Reflected in This Month's 'Additional Housing Supply Measures'
2nd Meeting of Real Estate and Supply Inspection TF
When crossing the Banpo Bridge in Seoul, you can see new apartments, old apartments, and apartments under construction all at once in the Sinbanpo area. The new apartments on the left are Acro Riverview Sinbanpo, the low old apartments on the right are Sinbanpo 2nd Complex, and the apartments under construction in the back are the Maple Xi construction site. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@
The government announced on the 1st that it will prepare measures to drastically shorten the duration of housing maintenance projects to increase housing supply.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) held the '2nd Real Estate Market and Supply Situation Inspection Task Force' on the same day to review housing market trends and discuss available policy measures.
Regarding the recent housing market, they stated, "Prices continue to rise mainly in some apartments in Seoul and the metropolitan area, and apartment sales transactions are steadily increasing," adding, "We will remain vigilant to prevent price volatility caused by speculative demand inflows."
They expressed their intention to accelerate maintenance projects. They announced that measures to drastically shorten the duration of maintenance projects will be included in this month's 'Additional Housing Supply Expansion Plan.'
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will also work on institutional improvements to eliminate permit delays by holding permit consultation meetings for basic local governments by region starting with the metropolitan area in August.
Additionally, through dispatching experts and mediation at maintenance project sites, they will actively support agreements on construction cost adjustments to resolve the backlog of projects awaiting commencement.
They pledged to respond strongly to market disruption activities by speculative forces. Joint on-site inspection teams composed of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Financial Services Commission, National Tax Service, Financial Supervisory Service, and local governments will conduct field inspections. This is interpreted as a warning message regarding the price-raising behaviors centered in the Gangnam area of Seoul.
In particular, they introduced a specific case where some apartment owners led collusion on housing prices by coercing sellers and real estate agents not to list properties below a certain price. This was reported to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Real Estate Transaction Order Disruption Reporting Center and referred to the prosecution.
They also decided to strengthen the expansion of public housing supply by LH. They stated that they will manage all supply stages?from project approval to commencement, completion, and occupancy?to ensure that public housing is supplied to actual demanders as planned without disruption.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
