[Editor's Note] A Nationwide Fraud Called 'Pre-sale Lottery'

Fifteen Canceled Pre-Sale Projects: The Legacy of Half-Baked Supply Policies
Pre-Sale Lottery Fallout Shakes Even the Third New Towns
The Supply Show Is Over... Now It's Time to Restore Trust

"The project has been canceled."

For pre-sale lottery winners who had waited for years for the main contract, this message was nothing short of despair and anger. This year alone, there have been eight pre-sale complexes where the project was canceled and did not proceed to the main contract. Including last year, the total reaches 15. The supply plans for these amount to over 6,700 housing units, with more than 3,000 units located in the Seoul metropolitan area. However, in reality, only a handful of these cases have seen a follow-up developer designated and the project normalized. At this point, pre-sale lotteries are little different from a "fraudulent lottery" targeting the public.

The pre-sale lottery system was introduced in 2021 by the Moon Jae-in administration. The intention was to shorten the supply schedule and control market demand by selecting winners in advance of the main contract for public housing sites. It was structurally identical to the "pre-reservation" system under the Lee Myung-bak administration, differing only in name. The problem was that the lottery was conducted before land compensation and permits were properly completed. As profitability declined, developers have increasingly withdrawn from projects. The remarks of then-Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyunmi-"If apartments were bread, I would stay up all night to make them"-proved to be an illusion, as there was neither dough nor an oven, only people lined up to eat.

This structural flaw ultimately led to the abolition of the system last year, but the damage is still ongoing. Even those who won private-sector pre-sale lotteries for projects that have not been canceled are living in anxiety. There are dozens of complexes where the main contract schedule has been postponed. The government has said, "We will transfer the winner's status to the follow-up developer," but no specific timing or conditions have been set. In the meantime, sale prices are rising, move-in dates are being delayed, and all the burden is falling on the buyers.

The essence of the problem is not simply a failure in system operation. It is that public trust in the government's guaranteed supply commitments has collapsed. Notably, among the canceled or delayed complexes are key locations in the third new towns, such as Wangsuk in Namyangju and Jangsang in Ansan. These are areas where President Lee Jaemyung recently pledged to accelerate housing supply. However, as failures of the pre-sale lottery system continue even in these areas, how persuasive can the government's new supply plans really be?

The government must now work to normalize pre-sale complexes that have been delayed or canceled. Especially if negotiations with private developers have stalled, the reasons and solutions must be clearly explained to the public. Simply stating, "We will transfer the winner's status," is not enough to restore trust. If necessary, the public sector should actively consider alternatives such as directly taking over the projects. Without restoring lost trust, neither market stability nor the realization of housing welfare will be possible. This is the lesson to be learned from a lottery system that deceived the public. The government's supply promises must no longer become a source of false hope.