Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Noh Hyun-wook stated on the 24th that the housing market appears to be entering a phase of price adjustment, advising that "excessive speculative buying should be reconsidered."
Minister Noh appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and said, "Looking at objective market indicators, it seems clear that housing prices have entered a correction phase."
In response to the question of whether housing prices are truly falling, he referred to the early 2010s when the real estate market was stagnant. Minister Noh emphasized, "After housing prices rose significantly in 2006-2007 and peaked, a price correction occurred, leading to serious social issues such as house poor and rent poor around 2012-2013. At that time, prices of apartments like Eunma in Daechi-dong and Hyundai in Apgujeong-dong in Gangnam fell by about 40% compared to 2006."
Housing prices cannot always rise and must eventually adjust, and that moment is gradually approaching. Minister Noh diagnosed that housing prices have stabilized based on market indicators. According to the Korea Real Estate Board, Seoul has seen a slowdown in price increases for 12 consecutive weeks, and the metropolitan area for 9 consecutive weeks. Private statistics from KB also show that buyer sentiment has shifted to favor buyers.
Minister Noh emphasized, "There is a continuous accumulation of housing supply in the market, but transactions have halved, indicating that market indicators clearly show a phase of stabilization."
Regarding concerns that the increase in comprehensive real estate tax has excessively burdened homeowners and that this tax burden might be passed on to tenants, he dismissed these as "exaggerated claims." He said, "While I understand the worries, in reality, these concerns are greatly exaggerated. Due to the two lease laws, it is difficult to raise prices for those living in rental or monthly lease housing, and although there is some concern for new contracts, the jeonse (key money deposit) market is also stabilizing as supply accumulates."
On homeowners' dissatisfaction with the comprehensive real estate tax, he explained, "There is no tax burden for properties valued around 1.6 billion won or less, and for single-home households, various deductions such as long-term residence or senior citizen benefits can reduce the tax by up to 80%, so the burden is not significant."
Minister Noh also mentioned the August 4th measures last year and the February 4th measures this year, stating, "The government plans to supply a total of 2.05 million housing units in the long term. The first-generation new towns such as Bundang, Ilsan, and Pyeongchon combined amount to 300,000 units, which is equivalent to seven times the size of the first-generation new towns, so it is by no means a small quantity."
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