"Young Residential Housing Above Railway Stations"... Expansion of Supply in GTX and Sinansan Line 'Prime Station Areas'

8 Locations Including Sinansan Line Yeongdeungpo Station and GTX-C Changdong Station
Expansion of Supply Through 'Railway Station-Youth Housing' Complex Development
Mandatory Complex Development for New Private and Metropolitan Railways Planned

Yeongdeungpo Station (Shinansan Line) Public Housing Bird's-eye View (Photo by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

One thousand youth housing units will be supplied at eight railway stations on the Sinansan Line, opening in 2025, and the metropolitan area express railway (GTX) Line C, opening in 2027. The lower levels will be used as railway stations, and the upper levels will be residential, following a mixed-use development model. The government has also proposed making such mixed-use railway station developments mandatory for private urban railways in Seoul and metropolitan area wide-area railways in other regions.

On the 9th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that it will promote a pilot project to supply public housing using new railway stations such as the Sinansan Line and GTX-C Line in cooperation with Seoul City and Gyeonggi Province. If the railway construction company develops the lower part as a railway entrance and the upper part as housing during the station construction process, Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH) or Gyeonggi Housing and Communities Corporation (GH) will purchase the housing and supply it as rental housing or long-term lease housing for youth.

The pilot project will be carried out on a scale of 1,000 units at the Sinansan Line, which is currently under construction, and the GTX-C Line, which is in the pre-design stage. Considering the construction period of the railway lines and stations, the first tenant recruitment is expected to take place between 2025 and 2026.

For the Sinansan Line, about 500 units will be supplied at Yeongdeungpo, Daerim Samgeori, Siheung Sageori, and Hanyang University stations. The Yeongdeungpo station, located in downtown Seoul, plans to supply public housing by adding eight floors to the existing two-story railway entrance building. Given the excellent transportation network including Line 1 and KTX, high demand from young professionals is expected.

Perspective view of Changdong Station (GTX-C) public housing (Photo by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

The remaining 500 units will be supplied at Chang-dong, Cheongnyangni, Yangjae, and Deokjeong stations on the GTX-C Line. At Chang-dong station, housing linked with local strategic industries will be created in conjunction with cultural and artistic facilities such as the Chang-dong Arena, and supplied to young cultural entrepreneurs.

The government plans to expand mixed-use developments combining railways and housing in the future. Projects such as GTX-B and the Daejang Hongdae Line have completed preliminary feasibility studies, and once project plans are finalized, the railway station sites will be secured more extensively than before to supply public housing.

In the long term, the government will also pursue making mixed-use development mandatory for new private and metropolitan railways. The leading metropolitan railway project in local areas, which began a preliminary feasibility study in August, will prepare mixed-use development plans by reviewing housing demand and potential station area development sites from the route decision stage.

If a developer supplying housing on new sites such as the 3rd New Town presents a mixed-use development operation support plan in cooperation with the institution operating the metropolitan transportation network, additional points will be awarded when supplying public land.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will start revising laws such as the Railway Construction Act from the end of the year to promote rapid mixed-use development, and plans to establish guidelines mandating housing supply and mixed-use development in metropolitan and private railway projects by the end of next year.