"If It Were My Money, I Wouldn't Buy at This Price" Won Hee-ryong's Criticism of LH's Unsold Property Purchases

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Wanyong] "If it were my money, I wouldn't buy at this price."

Won Heeryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, made this remark as a sharp criticism regarding the controversy over the high-priced purchase of unsold apartments in Seoul recently acquired by Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH).

On the 30th, Minister Won wrote on his Facebook, "I read an article that LH purchased an apartment in Gangbuk, which is in a severe unsold state, at a price 12% lower than the average sale price, and I confirmed the facts through an internal report," adding, "If it were not tax money but my own money, I cannot understand whether I would have bought it at this price."

He also pointed out, "It is guaranteeing the profits of construction companies with the people's tax money and encouraging moral hazard."

[Photo by Won Hee-ryong, Minister, Facebook]

Earlier, LH purchased a large number of apartments and officetels in Seoul where unsold units occurred as part of the jeonse purchase rental project for vulnerable groups. These include 36 units of ‘Cantavil Suyu Palace’ apartments (exclusive area 19~24㎡) in Gangbuk-gu and 28 officetel units of ‘Antilia Jayang’ in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.

LH invested 18 billion KRW to purchase these apartments and officetels. However, these apartments and officetels were sold at prices more than 30% higher than the surrounding market prices, which sparked controversy and criticism from public opinion. Some even raised complaints that the government compensated for the market prediction and pricing failures of specific developers with tax money.

In response, Minister Won said, "The purchase rental system is a housing welfare system that purchases existing houses and rents them to vulnerable groups at prices lower than market prices," adding, "The purpose of the system is to operate so that more people can benefit with the same budget."

He emphasized, "We will thoroughly review the criteria for such decisions and prepare improvement measures to align the entire purchase rental system with the public's expectations."