Housing Finance Corporation Holds 2022 Housing Finance Conference

Discussion on Housing Finance Amid High Interest Rates, High Inflation, and High Exchange Rates

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunju Lee] Korea Housing Finance Corporation held the ‘2022 Housing Finance Conference’ on the 28th at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul, under the theme ‘The Era of Triple Highs, Our Response Direction.’

At the congratulatory speech, Kim Joo-hyun, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, said, “Housing finance is not only complex in structure and content but also closely related to the lives of the people, so it is necessary to listen to many opinions,” adding, “I hope today’s event will be a productive occasion that presents various ideas and solutions for the stability and development of housing finance.” Chairman Kim also added, “We will continue to listen to many opinions and reflect them in policies.”

Choi Jun-woo, President of the Housing Finance Corporation, said in his opening remarks, “There are various risk factors such as high-intensity tightening by major countries, the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war, and increasing uncertainty in the domestic financial market.”

President Choi emphasized, “At a time when difficulties in the management environment are expected both domestically and internationally, I hope this event will be an opportunity to explore the direction housing finance should take through candid discussions among experts from various fields,” and added, “Through this event, the Corporation aims to discover competitive policy products and faithfully implement the government’s strengthened household debt management policies while seeking ways to ensure housing stability for low-income and vulnerable groups.”

Professor Cho Dong-chul of the Graduate School of International Policy at the Korea Development Institute (KDI) said in his keynote speech, “The most direct burden on our economy is the high interest rates in response to high inflation,” expressing concern that “the high interest rates, which are expected to rise further until next year, will pose a significant burden on maintaining the domestic demand recovery.” Professor Cho also emphasized, “At this point, the government, companies, and households must all strengthen their own financial soundness.”

In Session I, held under the theme ‘2023 Global Macroeconomic Outlook,’ Kim Hyung-seok, a team leader at the Bank of Korea, said, “The global economy has achieved high growth through an efficient division of labor system, but currently geopolitical fragmentation is emerging due to economic sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and intensified advanced industry competition between the U.S. and China.” Team Leader Kim stressed, “Fragmentation undermines the efficiency of the global division of labor system and causes cost increases, which may lead to the entrenchment of high inflation and low growth,” emphasizing the urgent need for international cooperation.

In Session II, under the theme ‘Real Estate Market Trends and Outlook,’ Hong Chun-wook, CEO of Prism Investment Advisory, continued the presentation. CEO Hong predicted, “It will be difficult to expect interest rate cuts until the first half of 2023,” and “inflation will peak in the first half of next year and gradually stabilize downward.” He also forecasted, “Regarding the coincident economic index, a significant decline is highly likely in the first half of 2023, so the housing price trend will continue in the first half of next year.”

A representative of HF Corporation said, “We hope this conference will serve as a forum for in-depth discussion on the trends in the housing finance market amid the recent expansion of global economic volatility,” and added, “We expect that the various opinions discussed today will contribute to overcoming the current situation.”