Apartment Record Highs with 'Buy and Sell Quickly' Trend... Government Launches Investigation into 'House Price Inflation'

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo Gang-wook] The government is launching a full-scale investigation into allegations that some parties have been inflating asking prices by reporting the highest apartment complex prices in transactions and then canceling them.

According to government departments and related industries on the 23rd, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to soon begin an investigation into suspected false reporting of actual transactions.

According to data disclosed earlier by Chun Jun-ho, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, among two apartment transactions in Seoul last year that were reported as sold but later canceled, one was identified as the highest price transaction ever recorded. This raises suspicion that the transactions were reported only to inflate asking prices and then immediately canceled.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to conduct a comprehensive review of transactions that were reported and then canceled to identify false reports.

Those found to have made false reports will be fined up to 30 million KRW under the Real Estate Transaction Reporting Act, and individuals suspected of malicious and repeated false reporting will be referred to the police for investigation.

Since the current Real Estate Transaction Reporting Act only stipulates fines for false reporting, it is expected that general criminal law will be applied to those who intentionally make false reports to inflate asking prices.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun instructed at the Cabinet meeting on the same day to take strong measures against false reporting of actual housing transaction prices.