Vice Minister of Land Says "Different from Moon and Yoon Administrations... Substantial Supply Expected in Seoul"

"Significant Increase in Supply Expected Through Public Rental Housing Reconstruction"
"Scale Equivalent to Three Bundang New Towns... Supplying Five First-Generation New Towns"

With the announcement of the first housing supply plan under the Lee Jaemyung administration, Lee Sangkyung, the First Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stated, "We have focused on supplying homes in the areas people want, and providing the types of housing they desire."

Panoramic view of Jamsil apartment.

On September 8, appearing on CBS Radio's "Kim Hyunjeong's News Show," Vice Minister Lee said, "This time will be different," and added, "As a representative case, we are planning to completely reconstruct public rental housing in Suseo and supply it to the Gangnam area of Seoul. There are many such public rental housing complexes scattered throughout Seoul, and if we proceed with the reconstruction of these units, a significant amount of new supply will be created."

"Significant Supply Expected from Public Rental Housing Reconstruction"

He continued, "For example, the Suseo district has more than 3,000 households, and the Gangseo district in Gangseo has nearly 3,000 to 4,000 households. There are also many public rental housing complexes in Sanggye-dong and other areas," adding, "We already began reconstruction projects for public rental housing last year, so we expect that a considerable amount of new supply will emerge throughout various parts of the city in the future."

The government, following a real estate-related ministers' meeting the previous day, announced a plan to expand housing supply in the Seoul metropolitan area by starting construction on 270,000 new homes annually until 2030, totaling 1.35 million units. The Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) will increase the speed of supply by directly developing housing sites instead of selling them to private developers, and will maximize the use of outdated facilities and idle land to expand supply in urban areas favored by consumers.

Vice Minister Lee explained, "Supplying 270,000 units per year is equivalent to building three Bundang New Towns annually," and added, "It's like supplying five first-generation new towns within five years, as was done in the 1990s."

The view of Eunma Apartment area in Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

"Scale of Three Bundang New Towns... Equivalent to Supplying Five First-Generation New Towns"

Regarding criticism that previous administrations also promoted real estate stabilization policies focused on expanding supply but failed, he said, "In the case of the Yoon Sukyeol administration, the supply plans were centered on the private sector, but when profitability declines or the economy is sluggish, private developers often delay projects. However, when the public sector is involved, the government can proceed according to the announced supply plans. In particular, for the third-generation new towns announced under the Moon Jaein and Yoon Sukyeol administrations, the compensation phase has been nearly completed."

He added, "There is also a major difference in that we are using construction starts as the standard. Previously, many of the announced supply figures were based on permits, which the public could not tangibly feel. We believe that the units announced this time, based on construction starts, will be almost fully completed."

The government also plans to utilize idle land for housing supply. Vice Minister Lee stated, "We have definitely secured sites such as the Gangseo District Office site, Seongdae Baseball Stadium in the northern region, and public land in Wirye. In addition, there are many old public office buildings scattered throughout Seoul. We plan to enact special legislation to reassess all such buildings over 30 years old and convert them into new housing units."