'O Sehun-style Redevelopment' Open for Applications from the 23rd... "Public Redevelopment Candidate Sites Not Eligible"

Conducted for 37 days from the 23rd to October 29th
Application requires 30% consent from landowners
Urban regeneration areas can also participate
Land transaction permit system enforced upon candidate site designation

[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] The first public call for private redevelopment candidate sites, applying Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's 'Six Major Regulatory Relaxation Measures for Redevelopment Activation' to revitalize housing supply, is set to begin. Urban regeneration areas, which were excluded from last year's public redevelopment candidate site call, are also included.

◆ Oh Se-hoon’s Private Redevelopment Public Call from September 23 for 37 Days

Seoul City announced on the 22nd that the '2021 Housing Redevelopment Project Candidate Site Public Call' will be conducted for 37 days from September 23 to October 29. The city plans to select around 25 final candidate sites by December.

According to the six measures, the 'Residential Maintenance Index System,' which had acted as a barrier to designating maintenance zones, has been abolished, allowing underdeveloped areas that previously had no redevelopment opportunities to apply. The resident consent procedure during the project promotion process will be simplified from three times to two times. The finally selected candidate sites will receive public support for rapid zone designation procedures through 'Rapid Integrated Planning.' Regulations related to the construction of apartments, such as the Type 2, 7-story rule, will also be relaxed, greatly improving project feasibility.

The city has introduced a public call system for the first time to select private redevelopment candidate sites. With the abolition of the Residential Maintenance Index System, the number of sites meeting the zone designation requirements has greatly increased, so the city plans to supplement the existing on-demand application method with a regular public call (once a year) to prevent indiscriminate maintenance projects.

The city will select candidate sites mainly based on legal requirements such as aging level for each zone, while comprehensively considering conditions and willingness of each autonomous district and balancing among districts.

The view of a villa neighborhood from a building in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, where villa transaction volumes are increasing on the 11th. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

◆ Must Obtain 30% Consent from Landowners... Public Redevelopment Candidate Sites Cannot Apply

The eligible sites for participation in the public call must meet both ▲the legal and ordinance requirements for redevelopment maintenance zone designation and ▲have at least 30% of landowners wishing for zone designation.

The legal requirements for redevelopment zone designation require fulfilling mandatory items (two-thirds or more of buildings aged, zone area of 10,000㎡ or more) and at least one of the optional items (two-thirds or more of total floor area aged, housing access rate 40% or less, small lots 40% or more, household density 60 households/ha or more).

Urban regeneration areas, which were excluded from last year's public redevelopment candidate site call, and areas requiring urban management and preservation under Seoul City policy (special landscape districts, historical and cultural environment preservation areas, etc.) are also included in the call. This opens the door for redevelopment projects to bring substantial residential environment improvements to aging, slum-like, and severely underdeveloped residential areas.

Additionally, to minimize resident confusion, the city has set exclusion criteria. As announced at the June 'Seoul City-Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Policy Cooperation Meeting,' sites selected as candidates under public redevelopment and the 2·4 Plan (3080+) will be excluded to avoid conflicts. Zones where more than 30% of landowners oppose or designated as exclusive residential areas are also excluded.

Zones wishing to participate in the call must submit the application form and consent documents to the relevant autonomous district office. After preliminary review by the districts in November, up to four sites per district will be recommended to Seoul City, which will hold a 'Selection Committee' in December to finalize the candidate sites.

If private redevelopment candidate sites are selected within this year, the city plans to proceed with the second public redevelopment call following last year's first public redevelopment call. Zones that fail (are not selected) in the private redevelopment call can participate in the second public redevelopment call. However, zones selected as private redevelopment candidate sites cannot apply again for public redevelopment.

◆ Anti-Speculation Measures Also Prepared... Candidate Sites Will Be Designated as Land Transaction Permission Zones

Along with the six regulatory relaxation measures for redevelopment activation, the city plans to implement the 'Redevelopment Zone Anti-Speculation Measures' announced to block the influx of speculative forces.

First, when calling for candidate sites for redevelopment zone designation, the announcement date of the public call will be designated as the 'Reference Date for Rights Calculation.' This will fundamentally block speculative forces from acquiring pre-sale rights through multi-family new constructions or share splitting after the announcement date. After candidate site selection, various measures such as restricting construction permits for uneconomical new constructions without pre-sale rights and designating the area as a 'Land Transaction Permission Zone' allowing transactions only by actual owners will be taken.

Kim Seong-bo, Director of Seoul City Housing Policy Office, said, “With the abolition of the Residential Maintenance Index, many areas now have the opportunity to pursue redevelopment. We hope that private redevelopment through this regulatory relaxation, along with public redevelopment, will help alleviate the anxiety of Seoul citizens waiting for housing supply.”