"Too Expensive Land Prices, Middle-Class Senior Housing Cannot Be Built" [Senior House]

[6]"Seoul Land Prices Are Too Expensive, How Can We Build?"

Building Senior Welfare Housing in the Capital Area Is Impossible
To Build Senior Welfare Housing for the Middle Class
The Government Must Provide Land and Tax Benefits to Companies

On the 3rd of last month, residents at Spring County Xi, a senior welfare housing complex in Yongin City, are playing board games. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

‘Aging in Place’ refers to growing old while interacting with familiar people in a familiar environment. This is also why most recently built or soon-to-be-built senior welfare housing is concentrated in Seoul or Gyeonggi Province. However, due to the high land prices, monthly rents are set high, making facilities built in the metropolitan area effectively only accessible to the wealthiest elderly. Experts advise that the government should reduce move-in costs by securing land or providing tax benefits to each project entity, so that senior welfare housing for the middle class can become more widespread.

Lowering Move-in Costs for the Middle Class... Land Prices Are the Biggest Obstacle

"To build senior welfare housing for middle-class elderly, deposits and monthly rents must be drastically lowered from current levels. But in reality, land prices are too high and construction costs have soared sky-high. Investment costs have also increased due to high interest rates. Building senior welfare housing for the middle class in Seoul or Gyeonggi Province is virtually impossible," said Kang Daebin, Vice President of the National Association of Senior Residential Welfare Facilities, who worked at Samsung Noble County for 20 years.

Kang, a veteran in the industry, recently has been consulting senior welfare housing operators and proposing policies to the government.

Kang Dae-bin, Vice President of the National Association of Senior Welfare Facilities. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

Kang said, "When the Lotte Construction consortium developed the ‘Magok MICE Complex,’ they acquired the VL Le West site (a luxury senior housing) at about 40 to 50 million KRW per pyeong. But now, land prices in Seoul have risen so much that you cannot find land at that price." Land prices in satellite cities of Gyeonggi Province are currently around 20 to 30 million KRW per pyeong. Even just considering land prices, the structure inevitably leads to higher move-in costs for senior welfare housing.

The situation is similar for the senior welfare housing planned within the Senior Town in Dongtan, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, scheduled to start construction in 2026 under the leadership of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH). According to MDM Plus, the preferred negotiation partner, luxury senior welfare housing with deposits around 1 billion KRW per unit is planned there as well.

On March 20th, prospective residents were consulting at the Lotte VL Le West model house exhibition hall. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

To Increase Senior Welfare Housing... Land and Tax Benefits Are Needed

According to resident registration population statistics, as of March, 45% of the nationwide elderly population aged 65 and over (4,426,956 out of 9,873,344) live in the metropolitan area. Kang emphasized that to popularize senior welfare housing that realizes ‘Aging in Place’ for them, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Health and Welfare must provide two ‘carrots’: land and tax benefits.

Kang said, "Since senior welfare housing residents pay move-in fees, the government has classified these as for-profit facilities and has been reducing tax benefits annually. This logic holds when senior welfare housing is operated only for the upper class and a small number, but if it is to be expanded, the tax issue must be reconsidered first." He cited examples such as granting partial exemptions on acquisition tax, registration tax, and property tax to the developers owning the buildings, and value-added tax to the operators.

Kang added, "Just as the government offers corporate tax reductions to companies when setting goals to foster the semiconductor industry, unless direct financial support is provided to build senior housing, tax benefits will be the best incentive. I have been conveying such plans to officials at the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Land for eight years and am awaiting progress."

On the 3rd of last month, a resident was taking a walk at Spring County Xi, a senior welfare housing complex in Yongin City. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Securing land to build on is also a method. Kang said, "Providing public development sites or greenbelt release areas at low prices to private operators would help expand middle-class senior welfare housing."

A construction company official building senior welfare housing in Gyeonggi Province said, "Senior welfare housing, like youth safety housing or elderly safety housing, has a strong public interest character, but there are no benefits such as floor area ratio relaxations. To revitalize senior welfare housing, regulatory easing and tax benefits are essential."

[6] "How Can We Build When Seoul Land Prices Are So Expensive?"