Choo Kyung-ho: "1 Million Housing Units Supplied by Next Year, Additional 120,000 Public Units"

Announcement of 'Housing Supply Activation Plan' on the 26th
30,000 Houses to be Supplied in the Metropolitan Area Including 3rd Phase New Towns
85,000 New Residential Sites in the Metropolitan Area to be Announced in November
"Permit Approval Period to be Reduced by More Than One Year"

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho stated on the 26th, "From this year through next year, we will supply over 1 million housing units (based on permits) and will also successfully achieve the plan to supply 2.7 million units over the five years of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration."

At the joint briefing of related ministries held at the government complex in Jongno-gu, Seoul, during the 6th Real Estate Ministers' Meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Choo unveiled the "Housing Supply Activation Plan," saying, "To ensure a continuous supply of sufficient housing, the public sector will actively complement private supply, and we will swiftly improve the conditions for private housing projects."

He emphasized, "To this end, we will strengthen the role of a catalyst by securing an additional 120,000 units in the public sector. We will add more than 30,000 units in highly preferred metropolitan new towns, including the 3rd phase new towns, and in November, we will announce new candidate sites for housing development totaling 85,000 units, mainly in the metropolitan area."

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong, and Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Ju-hyun are announcing the 'Housing Supply Activation Plan' on the 26th at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

Deputy Prime Minister Choo continued, "In December, we will provide opportunities for citizens to own homes through pre-sale of 5,000 units and public sales of over 10,000 units next year," adding, "We will also shorten the permit period by more than one year through various project plan reductions to secure additional public permit volumes."

He expressed a strong will to drastically improve obstacles to private housing supply. Deputy Prime Minister Choo explained, "We will increase existing financial support programs by more than 20 trillion won to ensure sufficient funds for private housing construction sites, expanding total support to about 40 trillion won," and added, "We will increase the project financing (PF) loan guarantee scale by 10 trillion won to 25 trillion won and relax guarantee screening requirements so that normal projects will not face obstacles in receiving guarantees."

He said, "To alleviate financial difficulties for small and medium construction companies at the project initiation stage, we will add 3 trillion won for construction company guarantees and construction bond P-CBO inclusion, expanding total financial support to 7.2 trillion won," and "For some projects with concerns about insolvency, we will add 1 trillion won to the PF normalization support fund, increasing it to 2 trillion won to encourage prompt restructuring."

Regarding private housing construction projects, early permits and construction starts will be encouraged. Deputy Prime Minister Choo promised, "If the sales rate is low, we will support conversion to private rental housing to mitigate sales risks," and "We will support cost reduction through expanding public-supported private rental housing competitions, temporarily raising fund-supported loan limits, and rationalizing regulations related to resale restrictions on public land, donation of land/buildings, and charges."

Additionally, the government plans to actively resolve uncertainties in project progress through conflict mediation over construction costs and expansion of construction manpower, and to revitalize urban-type residential housing by easing the criteria for considering applicants as non-homeowners and relaxing building regulations.

Messages directed at the National Assembly were also delivered at the meeting. Deputy Prime Minister Choo urged, "Key housing supply-related bills such as the Reconstruction Excess Profit Recovery Act, the Housing Act, and the Special Act on Aging Planned Cities have been pending in the National Assembly for a long time, causing uncertainty in housing supply," and earnestly requested, "We sincerely ask for the National Assembly's prompt handling of these bills."