Measures to Revitalize the Stagnant Non-Apartment Market
Amendment to the 'Housing Supply Rules' to Be Promulgated and Enforced on the 18th
The government announced plans to expand housing supply to stabilize national housing. On November, new sites for 50,000 households will be announced. The photo shows a densely packed villa area in Yongsan-gu, viewed from Namsan, Jung-gu, Seoul on the 9th. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@
Starting from the 18th, people who own one villa with a net area of 85㎡ or less and a publicly announced price of 500 million KRW (market price approximately 700 to 800 million KRW) or less in the Seoul metropolitan area will also be recognized as non-homeowners when applying for housing subscription. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 17th, the amendment to the "Housing Supply Regulations" containing this content will be promulgated and enforced on the 18th. The revised regulations expand the scope of non-apartment properties considered as non-homeowners during subscription. This is part of the government's 8·8 measures aimed at revitalizing the sluggish non-apartment market.
Until now, owners of apartments and non-apartments with a net area of 60㎡ or less and a publicly announced price of 160 million KRW or less in the metropolitan area (and for provinces, apartments and non-apartments with a net area of 60㎡ or less and a publicly announced price of 100 million KRW or less) were recognized as non-homeowners when applying for housing subscription.
The government has kept the apartment criteria for recognizing non-homeowners unchanged but significantly lowered the standards for non-apartments. Non-apartments include multi-family houses, multi-unit houses, row houses, detached houses, and urban lifestyle housing, commonly referred to as villas. Going forward, in the metropolitan area, owners of villas with an area of 85㎡ or less and a publicly announced price of 500 million KRW or less, and in provinces, those with an area of 85㎡ or less and a publicly announced price of 300 million KRW or less, will be recognized as non-homeowners.
The amendments will apply to apartment complexes that announce resident recruitment from the 18th onward. Even if a villa was purchased before the enforcement date, as long as it meets the non-homeowner criteria, it will be recognized. The non-homeowner status will be determined based on the publicly announced price at the time of the resident recruitment announcement, so even if the publicly announced price rises by the time of move-in, it will not affect the winning status. This could increase the competition rate for subscription in popular regional apartments compared to now.
Due to the impact of jeonse fraud and reverse jeonse, the demand and supply for non-apartments are generally decreasing. From the beginning of this year to October, the cumulative sales volume of non-apartments was 126,000 units, a 33% decrease compared to last year (188,000 units). This is about half of the 10-year average (249,000 units). The number of non-apartment housing starts reached only 29,000 units by October this year, which is significantly lower than last year's starts (73,000 units) and the 10-year average (115,000 units).
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