Seoul National University Professor Lee Joonkoo Says, "President Lee Jaemyung, Who Is Confronting Real Estate Vested Interests, Feels as Refreshingly Satisfying as a Cider Drink"

"Many nonsensical claims about real estate policy"
"This time, we must achieve housing price stability" Lee expresses support

As President Lee Jaemyung continues to deliver strong messages on real estate regulations day after day, Lee Joonkoo, professor emeritus in the Department of Economics at Seoul National University, one of Korea's leading microeconomists and author of the textbook "Principles of Economics," assessed that "President Lee Jaemyung, who is confronting the real estate vested interests, feels as refreshingly satisfying as a cider drink." Professor Lee publicly expressed his support for President Lee, saying, "We must achieve stability in housing prices, which has long been a long-cherished goal of our society."

Lee Jaemyung. Yonhap News

"Rents will rise if multi-home owners sell? A nonsensical claim"

On the 4th, Professor Lee posted an article on Facebook titled "There is absolutely no reason why jeonse and monthly rents should rise just because multi-home owners sell their houses," in which he made these points. In response to the argument in some quarters that if multi-home owners put their properties on the market, the supply of rental housing in the real estate market will decrease and jeonse and monthly rents will rise, he countered, "If you think it through carefully, it is immediately clear that this is a baseless logic not worth a moment's consideration." He went on to point out, "As soon as President Lee declared an all-out war on housing speculation, as expected, objections are flying in from vested interests everywhere."

Professor Lee explained that when housing demanders such as tenants purchase the homes sold by multi-home owners, the overall market demand for rental housing decreases by the same amount. He added, "If the volume of demand decreases by exactly the same amount as the decrease in supply, the impact on (the rise of) jeonse and monthly rents will be extremely minimal." Professor Lee argued that the result would be the same even if multi-home owners donate their houses to their children.

"The first and last chance to achieve housing price stability"

Professor Lee also added that, in the long term, there is a possibility that multi-home owners selling their houses could lead to a decline in jeonse and monthly rents. He said, "If multi-home owners dispose of a large number of houses and this actually results in a drop in housing prices, then rents, which are determined in linkage with housing prices, will also turn to a downward trend," adding, "In our society, there are many nonsensical claims that are obviously false if you think about them even briefly, and this is especially true when it comes to real estate policy."

Professor Lee said, "A particularly large number of nonsensical claims related to real estate policy are being spread, and they have long served as a major obstacle to pursuing rational real estate policies," and continued, "To be honest about how I feel about the current situation, I find President Lee's stance, confronting the real estate vested interests with a determination to fight it out, as refreshingly satisfying as a cider drink." He concluded his post by saying, "As President Lee put it, this may be the first and last chance to achieve housing price stability, which has long been a long-cherished goal of our society."