Ministry of Land to Launch 'Planning Team' by Late March
Investigate and Monitor Illegal Activities in Overheated Housing Markets
Team of 20-30 Members, Twice the Size of Existing Organization
Increase Transaction Investigation Personnel to Avoid 'Delayed Response'
[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's 'Real Estate Transaction Analysis Planning Team' (hereinafter referred to as the Planning Team) is set to launch as early as the end of next month. The Planning Team is a formalized organization of the Ministry's currently temporary 'Real Estate Market Illegal Activities Response Team,' with personnel increasing from the current 15 members to 20-30, nearly doubling in size.
The existing Response Team faced criticism for its "belated response," as it failed to identify overheated real estate markets in the metropolitan area early due to manpower shortages, resulting in areas being designated as regulated only after housing prices had already risen. The government expects that with the launch of the Planning Team and the expanded workforce, actions against illegal activities and overheated market areas will be taken more swiftly.
According to sources inside and outside the government on the 12th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is preparing to launch the Planning Team as early as the end of next month. It will operate under the Land Policy Bureau of the Ministry and is expected to have 20-30 personnel. In addition to the Ministry, dispatched personnel from related agencies such as the prosecution, police, National Tax Service, Financial Services Commission, and Financial Supervisory Service will be included.
On February 21 last year, the Ministry launched the 'Real Estate Market Illegal Activities Response Team' to intensively investigate various illegal activities in the real estate market. The Response Team was initially planned as a temporary organization for six months, but the government extended its term by six months in August last year. Since temporary organizations cannot be extended twice under government organizational rules, the Response Team will be disbanded in mid-this month.
Accordingly, the Ministry and the ruling Democratic Party initially aimed to establish a large-scale permanent government organization under the Ministry called the 'Real Estate Transaction Analysis Institute' (hereinafter referred to as the Institute) by the end of last year. However, the related legal bill for this organization failed to pass in the National Assembly, and ultimately, the government decided to form the smaller but permanent Planning Team instead of the Institute.
The Planning Team, set to launch soon, is expected to be composed of three teams: the Real Estate Abnormal Transaction Analysis Team, the Real Estate Actual Transaction Investigation Team, and the Illegal Activities Investigation Team. Once launched, the government plans to focus more on quickly identifying overheated real estate market areas in Seoul and other metropolitan regions for proactive responses.
A Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport official explained, "Previously, due to manpower shortages, the real estate transaction analysis function was virtually non-existent, leading to criticism such as 'belated designation of regulated areas.' We plan to strengthen monitoring functions by increasing personnel to detect abnormal transactions more quickly in specific areas."
In particular, the Planning Team will also be responsible for investigating market overheating and illegal activities occurring in planned project areas under the 'Revolutionary Expansion Plan for Housing Supply in Metropolitan Areas' (commonly known as the 2·4 Supply Plan). Earlier, the government announced plans to secure about 830,000 housing sites nationwide by 2025 through the 2·4 Plan and stated it would announce project promotion areas within the first half of this year.
As the project accelerates, there is a high possibility of real estate market overheating centered around these areas. Therefore, the government plans to strengthen planned investigations of actual transactions and on-site inspections targeting speculative demand, including abnormal transactions in project areas and neighboring regions, by utilizing the Planning Team and others.
During the roughly one-month enforcement gap between the disbandment of the existing Response Team and the launch of the Planning Team, another temporary organization will be formed to continue operations. The Planning Team will also take on preparatory roles for the launch of the Institute currently under discussion in the National Assembly.
The Ministry is preparing an amendment to the Ministry's organizational regulations for the Planning Team's launch, which will undergo legislative notice, review by the Office for Government Policy Coordination, and approval by the Cabinet. A Ministry official said, "We are currently consulting with the Ministry of Economy and Finance and aiming for a launch by the end of March, but it may be slightly delayed."
The government expects that once the Planning Team is launched and the effects of the 2·4 Plan begin to materialize, housing prices in Seoul and the metropolitan area will stabilize. According to the Korea Real Estate Board's weekly apartment price trends for the second week of February, the apartment price increase rate in Seoul slightly decreased from 0.10% last week to 0.09% this week following the announcement of the 2·4 Plan.
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