Correction of Error Omitting 190,000 Housing Units in Supply Statistics Including Permits, Groundbreaking, and Completion

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 30th that it is revising last year's housing permit performance from the previous 388,891 units to 428,744 units. The start and completion performances are also corrected from 209,351 units to 242,188 units, and from 316,415 units to 436,055 units, respectively. The total increased volume is 192,330 units.

Apartment construction site in Seoul city / Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The Ministry stated that at the end of January this year, during the process of reviewing last year's housing supply performance, a possibility of database (DB) omission was identified, prompting a full internal inspection. This is the first time the entire annual statistics have been revised.

The Ministry explained that the cause of the undercounted performance was due to the omission of redevelopment project codes during the system interface change following the revision of the "Electronic Government Act" in June 2021. An error occurred in the process of changing the statistical production method from direct linkage between the Housing Supply Statistics Information System (HIS) and the Building Administration Information System (Seumteo) to linkage via national standard data. It was found that housing supply volumes from mixed-use complexes with more than 300 units and redevelopment projects were not captured during the system transition.

Permit, start, and completion performances are leading indicators that gauge the real estate market, serving as the basis for decision-making by housing demanders, private businesses, and government policy formulation. In fact, the government announced the "September 26 Supply Measures" last year based on supply statistics. This year, it announced the "January 10 Real Estate Measures." Major policy decisions were thus made based on inaccurate statistics.

However, the Ministry said that this statistical revision is limited to last year's figures and does not affect the overall trend. Although the omitted volumes have been recompiled, concerns about supply reduction remain. Kim Heon-jeong, Director of Housing Policy at the Ministry, said, "Although the supply performance was undercounted, the trend remains unchanged. In the case of permits, before the statistical revision, there was a 26% decrease compared to the previous year, and after the revision, an 18% decrease. This is not a significant difference to change policy direction." The Ministry plans to upgrade the DB system by June this year to ensure that the omitted codes are properly linked.