Democratic Party's Bok Kiwang: "Apartments Under 1.5 Billion Won Are for Ordinary People... Claims That the 'Housing Ladder Has Disappeared' Are Baseless Attacks"

"Measures Do Not Affect Homes Valued at 1.5 Billion Won or Less"

Bok Kiwang, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated regarding the October 15 real estate measures, which focus on strengthening loan regulations, that "loan regulations for homes priced at 1.5 billion won or less have not been tightened."

Bok Kiwang, member of the Democratic Party of Korea. The Asia Business Daily DB

As a member of the party's Housing Market Stabilization Task Force, Bok explained on YTN Radio's "Kim Youngsoo's The Interview" on the 23rd, "Isn't there a perception that apartments around 1.5 billion won are homes for ordinary people? The October 15 real estate measures did not touch policies related to 1.5 billion won apartments, nor those for young people and newlyweds."

He added, "Nevertheless, I think the criticism that 'the housing ladder has disappeared for these people' is really an unfounded attack."

Bok further stated, "For homes priced above 1.5 billion won, it's less about the housing ladder and more about the desire to expand and accumulate personal wealth. Such processes cause volatility in our real estate market, so in order to curb excessive gap investment, we are reducing the scale of loans and strengthening the application of the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio and the debt service ratio (DSR)."

Bok also said, "This real estate policy does not touch those who are middle class or below at all. However, I am concerned that it seems to affect their sentiments, and I am worried about how to find the right answer."

Regarding the possibility of easing the reconstruction excess profit recovery system (Jaechohwan), he said, "Nothing has been definitively decided," and added, "Members of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee are discussing various opinions." The Jaechohwan system is a policy that recovers a portion of the additional profits generated from reconstruction projects. If the profit per association member from reconstruction exceeds 80 million won, up to half of the excess amount is recovered. The Democratic Party initially maintained the position that the system should be preserved.

Bok said, "Now, more than ever, supply is important, and there are opinions that, in order to revitalize the market, we should consider easing or even abolishing the system. Many lawmakers believe that rather than directly revitalizing the market, it could affect public sentiment, which is why there are calls for both easing and abolishing the system."