President Lee Questions Fairness of Loan Maturity Extensions for Multiple-Home Owners... "Finance Must Also Be Just"

Raised Concerns on Social Media
"We Gave Them Opportunities by Cutting Capital Gains Tax, Yet They Held On"
"They Still Think Things Will Work Out if They Just Hold On"
"Fairness Is the Driving Force of Growth and Development"

President Lee Jaemyung questioned whether it is fair to grant additional benefits, such as extensions of existing mortgage loans, when multi-home owners reach the maturity of their current home-backed loans.

On the 13th, President Lee wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "Even for the sake of addressing the national task of stabilizing housing prices, it is problematic to provide financial benefits for the purchase of multiple homes acquired not for owner-occupied residential use, but for investment and speculation."

He continued, "The current lending regulations for multi-home owners are very strict," and asked, "We have reduced capital gains taxes and provided opportunities for several years, yet some multi-home owners have held on without reducing their holdings. In such a situation, is it fair to grant additional loan-extension benefits only to them when their loans reach maturity?" Currently, the government is applying limits on mortgage loans during the process of acquiring housing in order to stabilize housing prices, and questions have been raised that, when multi-home owners extend the maturity of loans secured by their existing homes, it creates an imbalance with new home buyers.

President Lee stressed, "People who follow the rules and respect social order must not be put at a disadvantage compared with those who break the rules in pursuit of unjust gains." He added, "To those who still think that things will work out if they just keep holding on, I say this: the Republic of Korea is now moving toward a normal society where common sense and order are being restored."

He went on to say, "At the core of a normal society is ensuring that decent people who follow the rules do not suffer losses, and that people who break the rules cannot profit," adding, "In a democratic society, fairness is the driving force of growth and development."