President Lee: "If One Person Buys Hundreds of Homes, Tens of Thousands Built Still Won't Be Enough"

Proposal for Public Debate on "Rental Business Registration"

President Lee Jaemyung said on the 8th, "If we allow a single person to buy up hundreds of homes, then no matter how many tens of thousands of homes we build and supply, it will inevitably be insufficient, won't it?"

On this day, President Lee said in a post on X (formerly Twitter), "It is strange that, even if we set aside the case of actually constructing rental housing, people can buy up as many homes as they want simply by registering as rental business operators," delivering this message.

Yonhap News Agency

He then said, "I would like to hear opinions on whether we should continue to allow purchase-based rentals that are not construction-based rentals."

At the same time, President Lee attached a news article reporting that listings of apartments in Seoul had surged after he repeatedly sent out a message to multi-homeowners about the end of the temporary suspension of the heavy capital gains tax.

Construction-based rentals refer to a format in which construction companies and others directly build homes and put them on the rental market, while purchase-based rentals refer to a format in which already-built homes are bought and then leased to tenants. Regarding private business operators engaged in purchase-based rentals, there are two coexisting views: one is that a limited resource, namely real estate, is monopolized by a few who then pursue rent; the other is that they are important housing suppliers who are necessary for stabilizing the real estate market. President Lee is seen as proposing that opinions on this issue be shared through public debate.