Among 75 Entries for 2nd New Town Planning, 52 Recommended by Districts Received
Final Candidates to Be Decided by Selection Committee at End of December
3 Major Anti-Speculation Measures to Prevent Influx of Speculative Forces
[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Seoyul] The Seoul Metropolitan Government has announced the results of district recommendations for the second round of candidate sites for the Rapid Integrated Planning (Shintong Planning) housing redevelopment project, which began last August. The city plans to activate anti-speculation measures to prevent speculative forces from entering these candidate sites from now on.
On the 2nd, the city revealed that a total of 52 districts were applied for by 19 autonomous districts in Seoul as a result of the district recommendations for the second round of Shintong Planning housing redevelopment project candidates, which closed on the 30th of last month. These districts were finally recommended by the district mayors considering the current status and urgency of redevelopment among the 75 sites submitted in the call for applications last August. The final candidate sites will be decided through a selection committee by the end of December.
Since the public redevelopment project candidate site call in September 2020 and the first round of Shintong Planning housing redevelopment project candidate site call last September, the city has been selecting redevelopment project candidate sites through annual public recruitment. So far, a total of 53 districts in Seoul have been selected as candidate sites.
The city is implementing the 'Three Major Anti-Speculation Measures' to prevent speculative forces from entering Shintong Planning candidate sites or areas that failed to be selected and to prevent victims of sales fraud. These measures include ▲Announcement of the rights calculation reference date ▲Designation of land transaction permission zones ▲Restriction on building permits.
First, to prevent 'share splitting' aimed at increasing pre-sale rights, the city announces the rights calculation reference date and calculates the right to purchase buildings based on the day after this date. Houses for which ownership is not secured by that date will have no right to move in and will be subject to cash settlement.
The rights calculation reference date is uniformly set as the 'public announcement date' for districts selected through calls before 2021, and January 28 of this year for districts selected through calls after this year. ▲Parcel division (the act of dividing parcels to create multiple plots of land over 90㎡, which is the standard for pre-sale) ▲Conversion of single-family or multi-family houses into multi-unit houses ▲Separate acquisition of land and buildings ▲Construction of multi-unit or apartment buildings must be completed by the day after the rights calculation reference date to gain the right to pre-sale.
In addition, to prevent speculative transactions such as gap investments, not only candidate sites but also districts not selected in the call are designated as 'land transaction permission zones' to block the inflow of speculative forces. When designated as a 'land transaction permission zone,' transactions of houses, commercial buildings, land, etc., above a certain scale require permission from the district mayor.
Furthermore, to prevent sales fraud and ensure smooth redevelopment project progress, building activities are restricted immediately upon designation as a candidate site under the 'Building Act.' The city particularly warned that newly built houses constructed after the rights calculation reference date do not grant pre-sale rights, but there have been cases where such properties were promoted as if pre-sale rights were given, causing damage, and urged special caution.
When building activity restrictions are in place, unnecessary construction such as new buildings within the district is restricted for two years (from the date of restriction announcement). Not only building permits and reports but also commencement reports are restricted to prevent construction even if permits have already been obtained. However, for districts not selected as candidate sites, only acts that increase shares are restricted.
Despite strong anti-speculation measures, the city urged special caution from buyers considering purchasing newly built villas (multi-unit houses) due to concerns about potential sales fraud damage. If the district is pursuing redevelopment projects, it is essential to confirm that ownership for each household was secured before the rights calculation reference date.
Yoo Changsoo, Director of Housing Policy, said, "We will implement strong and multifaceted measures to protect original residents from speculative forces and prevent innocent victims from occurring in the districts recommended this time."
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