Government: "Over 20,000 New Housing Sites to Be Added in the Capital Area by Releasing Greenbelt" (Comprehensive)

Meeting of Ministers Related to Real Estate

Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of Economy and Finance, is attending and speaking at the Economic Ministers' Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno, Seoul on the 10th. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Strategy and Finance, announced on the 18th, "We will additionally supply more than 20,000 new housing units in the metropolitan area in the second half of this year by lifting the Greenbelt restrictions." This measure was taken in response to the recent overheating of both sale and jeonse prices centered around Seoul.

At the '7th Real Estate Related Ministers' Meeting' held at the Government Seoul Office on the 18th, Deputy Prime Minister Choi said, "Although the overall real estate market is not overheated, the upward trend in housing prices is spreading mainly in Seoul and the metropolitan area. We are taking the current situation seriously and strengthening monitoring."

He added, "First, we will definitely increase housing supply so that young people and low-income households without homes can feel secure. We plan to supply 236,000 housing units by 2029, mainly in the 3rd new towns with excellent transportation and residential conditions, at prices significantly lower than market prices."

Housing supply through urban reconstruction and redevelopment will also be promoted. Deputy Prime Minister Choi stated, "Since the designation of maintenance zones has significantly increased under this government, urban housing supply has expanded more than twice the past average. We will prepare institutional improvement plans to accelerate the speed and profitability of maintenance projects and expand customized conflict mediation for each project site."

Regarding the normalization of real estate project financing (PF), he explained, "A total of 24 trillion won in PF loan guarantees has been executed, ensuring smooth liquidity supply. Since the recent evaluation of PF project feasibility has been completed, we will induce prompt restructuring of projects with low feasibility."

To stabilize the jeonse market, the supply of non-apartment housing will also be accelerated. Deputy Prime Minister Choi said, "We will supply at least 10,000 more public purchase rental housing units than the originally planned 120,000 units, and among them, 54,000 units will be concentrated in the metropolitan area in the second half of this year. We will also encourage private sector supply expansion through tax support for purchasing newly built small non-apartment housing and expanding the range of small housing recognized as non-homeownership when applying for housing subscription."

Deputy Prime Minister Choi emphasized, "We will thoroughly manage to prevent the rise in housing prices from leading to speculative demand. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will operate a joint on-site inspection team to crack down on market disruption activities, strictly punish illegal acts, and recover evaded taxes."

Finally, he stated, "If market overheating occurs despite these measures, we will consider extraordinary measures." Deputy Prime Minister Choi added, "To promptly implement and review these measures, a vice minister-level task force involving related ministries will be operated weekly, and additional plans to expand housing supply will be announced in August."