Pre-Subscription for 10,000 Houses in the 3rd New Town Next Year, 60,000 Houses by 2022

[Asia Economy Reporter Inho Yoo] The number of units to be supplied through pre-subscription in the third phase of new towns in the metropolitan area in the second half of next year has been confirmed at 9,700 units.

However, pre-subscription for key sites in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, which are highly sought after by applicants, such as the Yongsan Railroad Maintenance Depot site, Taereung Golf Course, and the Government Gwacheon Office site, will be postponed to 2022. Up to half of the apartments supplied through pre-subscription will be medium-sized units with exclusive areas exceeding 60㎡ and up to 85㎡.

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, stated at the 6th Real Estate Market Inspection Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office Building on the morning of the 8th, "Starting pre-subscription in July next year, we will early supply 30,000 public sale housing units in major public land sites in the metropolitan area, including the 3rd phase new towns, in 2021 and 2022 respectively." Pre-subscription means receiving applications for some of the main subscription units 1 to 2 years in advance.

To this end, the government plans to start pre-subscription for 30,000 units next year, beginning with Incheon Gyeyang District (1,100 units) and Wirye New Town (300 units) in July to August, followed by Namyangju Wangsuk 2 (1,500 units) and Namtaryeong Military Site (300 units) in September to October, and then Hanam Gyosan (1,100 units), Goyang Changneung (1,600 units), and Gwacheon (1,800 units) in November to December.

In 2022, pre-subscription will be accepted for a total of 30,000 units, including 12,500 units from five 3rd phase new towns, as well as Yongsan Railroad Maintenance Depot (3,000 units), Yongsan Platform City (3,300 units), Gangseo (300 units), Magok (200 units), Godeok Gangil (500 units), and Eunpyeong (100 units).

However, the government has decided to announce the specific pre-subscription schedule and scale for the Taereung Golf Course, Government Gwacheon Office site, Yongsan Camp Kim, and Western Driver’s License Test Site, which were announced in the August 3 supply plan, at a later date.

Along with this, the government plans to increase the proportion of medium-sized public sale apartments supplied in the 3rd phase new towns. Under current laws, the supply ratio of 60~85㎡ public sale apartments cannot exceed 15%, but the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to revise related regulations to raise this ratio up to 50%.

Additionally, to minimize transportation inconvenience in the 3rd phase new towns, the government will swiftly implement the metropolitan transportation improvement plan, and during the early occupancy period before the completion of subway projects, the project implementers such as Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) will bear operating costs to run metropolitan buses.

Deputy Prime Minister Hong said, "All five 3rd phase new towns have completed district designation and prepared basic urban plans, and follow-up measures aligned with the pre-subscription schedule are being carried out without delay. Especially, since convenient transportation was cited as the biggest reason for wanting to move into the 3rd phase new towns, we plan to promptly proceed with the confirmation of the metropolitan transportation improvement plan and follow-up procedures such as preliminary feasibility studies by public institutions to ensure transportation infrastructure is completed on time."

Reporters Inho Yoo and Hyunjung Kim (Sejong) sinryu007@