Jokyunggu Daegu City Councilor: "Daegu Has the Highest Unsold Housing Nationwide, Transfer Tax and Acquisition Tax Reduction Measures Needed"

City Council Plenary Session 5-Minute Speech
Urging Daegu City to Respond Actively

Daegu City Council member Jo Kyung-gu (People Power Party, Suseong-gu 2) pointed out Daegu City's passive attitude toward the unsold housing issue during a 5-minute free speech at the 2nd plenary session of the 313th regular meeting on the 28th, urging active measures to resolve the unsold housing problem.

Councilor Jo stated, "Recently, while the metropolitan area has seen a decrease in unsold houses and an increase in housing prices, Daegu still has the highest volume of unsold houses nationwide and housing prices are also falling. However, Daegu City continues to maintain a bystander attitude toward this issue."

Daegu City Council Member Jo Kyung-gu

He continued, "The current uniform Debt Service Ratio (DSR) policy, which deepens the housing price gap between the metropolitan area and the five major metropolitan cities, has been completely ineffective in resolving the unsold housing problem in local cities," and requested, "DSR should be calculated and applied separately for the metropolitan area and local cities."

Councilor Jo also raised the necessity of a temporary capital gains tax exemption policy that was implemented and effective in 2012. At that time, the temporary capital gains tax exemption policy targeted houses with a sale area of 85㎡ or less or priced under 600 million KRW, resulting in a sharp decrease in unsold houses from about 7,500 units in early 2012 to around 900 units by the end of 2013.

Furthermore, he argued, "Currently, when corporations buy and sell houses, an acquisition tax of 12% is imposed in both the metropolitan area and local cities. To not only resolve the unsold housing issue but also promote housing stability for young people, a temporary acquisition tax reduction is necessary when corporations purchase houses for rental housing business purposes."

In conclusion, Councilor Jo said, "We should not just wait quietly for changes in government policy but actively discover policies suitable for Daegu City's conditions and proactively propose them to the government."