Kyungrye Seon "National Assembly Members' Apartment Reported Prices at 62% of Market Value... Underreporting"

On the morning of the 27th, participants hold placards at the press conference presenting the 'Analysis of Apartment Properties Reported by Members of the National Assembly in 2021' held at the Economic Justice Practice Citizens' Coalition (Gyeongsilryeon) auditorium in Jongno-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] A civic group has revealed that members of the National Assembly reported their apartment holdings at prices significantly lower than the actual market value.

The Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) held a press conference on the 27th at the CCEJ auditorium in Jongno-gu, Seoul, stating, "The declared apartment property value of the 21st National Assembly members is about 62% of the actual market price," adding, "On average, 540 million KRW per person was underreported."

According to CCEJ, as of March last year, the total declared apartment property value of the 21st National Assembly members was 184 billion KRW, averaging 870 million KRW per person. However, based on market prices in March last year, the total was 297.5 billion KRW, averaging 1.41 billion KRW per person, showing a discrepancy with the declared amount.

The member with the largest gap between declared apartment property value and market price was Park Deok-heum of the People Power Party, who reported 8.18 billion KRW compared to a market price of 13.27 billion KRW, a difference of 5.09 billion KRW. Park reported three apartments in total: two in Gangnam, Seoul, and one in Chungcheong. Following him in terms of the difference between declared value and market price were National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok (2.03 billion KRW), independent member Yang Jeong-sook (1.87 billion KRW), People Power Party member Joo Ho-young (1.85 billion KRW), and People Power Party member Jeong Jin-seok (1.8 billion KRW).

CCEJ pointed out, "Public officials are required to report real estate property values at the higher of the official assessed price or actual transaction price, but by limiting the actual transaction price to 'self-referenced transactions,' they are underreporting their assets to the public."

CCEJ analyzed that the market price of apartments owned by National Assembly members increased by an average of 580 million KRW during the Moon Jae-in administration. In May 2017, the average price of one apartment owned by National Assembly members was 710 million KRW, which rose to 1.29 billion KRW as of December last year.

The apartment with the largest market price increase was Banpo Jugong Complex 1, reported by Speaker Park Byeong-seok, People Power Party member Joo Ho-young, and Democratic Party member Lee Sang-jik, which rose by 3.28 billion KRW during the period (based on a 140㎡ exclusive area).

This survey was conducted on 294 members of the 21st National Assembly, analyzing 259 apartments owned by 211 members. Market price data was sourced from KB Kookmin Bank, Daum, Naver, and other real estate market price and transaction information.