3rd New Town Website Surpasses 1 Million Visitors... "95% for Personal Residence Purpose"

180,000 Apply for Cheongyak Notification Service
68% in Their 30s and 40s... Most for Residential Purposes
Hanam Gyosan Preferred Most at 20%

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] The 3rd New Town website surpassed 1 million visitors just over a month after its launch. The notification service that informs users of subscription schedules in advance has attracted 180,000 applicants. Among the applicants, 68% were in their 30s and 40s, and 95% of the total indicated that their purpose was for personal residence.

As of 8 a.m. on the 17th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that the 3rd New Town website had 1,061,253 visitors, and 180,000 people had signed up for the subscription schedule notification service. When you apply for the notification service, you receive text messages about the subscription schedules of your areas of interest 3 to 4 months in advance.

Analyzing the data of those who applied for the subscription schedule notifications, preferences were highest for Hanam Gyosan (20%), Gwacheon (18%), Goyang Changneung (17%), Namyangju Wangsuk (15%), Bucheon Daejang (13%), and Incheon Gyeyang (11%). The Ministry explained that "there was no concentration of interest in any specific area."

Among the applicants, 33% were residents of Seoul, which is expected to help disperse housing demand in Seoul. Residents of Gyeonggi Province accounted for 57%, and residents of Incheon made up 8%. The age distribution of applicants was 38% in their 30s, 30% in their 40s, 17% in their 50s, 10% in their 20s, and 5% aged 60 and above. Those in their 30s and 40s accounted for 68% of the total.

The preferred area size was 60?85㎡ for 61%, over 85㎡ for 29%, and 60㎡ or less for 10%. Overall, 95% showed interest in subscriptions for personal residence purposes, while only 4% were for supporting their children's housing. Reasons for preferring the 3rd New Town included convenient transportation (105,286 people, 23.6%), housing prices (92,020 people, 20.7%), proximity to workplace (88,626 people, 19.9%), parks and green spaces (73,416 people, 16.5%), and children's education (48,225 people, 10.8%).

The 3rd New Town will conduct pre-subscriptions from next year through 2022, followed by the main subscription in 2023, and the first move-ins in 2025. Unlike the past public housing projects where compensation procedures were carried out 2 to 3 years after pre-reservation, the Ministry's position is that the 3rd New Town will not experience delays as pre-subscriptions will be conducted after compensation procedures have been actively carried out.

The government completed compensation announcements last month for Namyangju Wangsuk, Hanam Gyosan, and Incheon Gyeyang, and will begin compensation from the end of the year after appraisal evaluations. Compensation announcements for Goyang Changneung and Bucheon Daejang are planned for early next year.

Pre-subscription target areas were selected with minimal risk of project delays due to cultural assets or other factors, so fewer variables are expected. At the time of pre-subscription, the final areas will be confirmed after thorough review of compensation and cultural asset conditions to minimize the possibility of project delays due to external factors.

For the 3rd New Town, 80,000 to 90,000 housing units will be supplied through the main subscription even after the pre-subscription. About 60 top experts in urban planning, architecture, transportation, and environment, along with approximately 800 engineers from 85 domestic and international companies, are participating in establishing the district plan.

The Ministry plans to form a '3rd New Town National Mentoring Group (tentative name)' composed of pre-subscription hopefuls and winners from the first half of next year to ensure that the 3rd New Town is developed according to the public’s wishes.

To prevent transportation inconveniences upon move-in, wide-area transportation improvement measures are being swiftly implemented, and the 3rd New Town transportation plan will be finalized within this year. The Ministry emphasized, "We will also expedite follow-up procedures such as preliminary feasibility studies by public institutions to ensure that road and subway projects are completed on schedule."