Signs of Speculative Overheating Lead to Yongsan Maintenance Depot Being Designated as a Land Transaction Permission Zone

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] From the 14th, to trade land, houses, or buildings around the Yongsan Railroad Maintenance Depot site in Seoul, prior approval from the local district office must be obtained.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 13th that it plans to hold a Central Urban Planning Committee review and discuss designating the area near the Yongsan Maintenance Depot site, included in the public redevelopment target, as a land transaction permission zone.

Earlier, on the 6th, the Ministry of Land and Seoul City announced the "Measures to Strengthen the Housing Supply Base in the Metropolitan Area," which includes the complex development of 8,000 public and private housing units and international business and commercial facilities on the Yongsan Railroad Maintenance Depot site owned by Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) and the Ministry of Land.

The land transaction permission target area is expected to include many administrative districts near the maintenance depot, such as Wonhyo-ro, Dongbu Ichon-dong, Singye-dong, and Hangangno-dong, which are development beneficiary areas. The Ministry of Land plans to finalize the target area, designation period, and permission area after the Central Urban Planning Committee review, publish it in the official gazette, and implement it immediately.

The Ministry of Land's decision to impose a prior approval system for land transactions near the Yongsan Maintenance Depot just over a week after announcing the housing supply base strengthening plan is due to signs of speculation emerging around redevelopment zones, apartments, land, and commercial properties near the depot. In the past, when overheating signs appeared in planned public housing development districts, they were designated as land transaction permission zones.

When designated as a land transaction permission zone, acquiring land exceeding a certain area by use type?residential, commercial, or industrial?requires prior approval from the city, county, or district head, specifying the intended land use, and the land must be used according to the approved purpose for a certain period. For land, it must be used as acquired, and for houses or commercial buildings, if the attached land (share) area exceeds the standard, purchase is only allowed if the buyer directly resides or operates a business for at least two years.

Currently, the standard area for land transaction permission is over 180㎡ for residential areas within urban regions, over 200㎡ for commercial areas, over 660㎡ for industrial areas, and over 90㎡ for undesignated use areas.

However, the Enforcement Decree of the Real Estate Transaction Reporting Act allows the area standard for permission targets to be lowered to a minimum of 10% or raised up to 300%.

The government plans to reduce the permission area standard to as low as 10% considering that in city centers like Yongsan, the land shares of apartments and row villas are small. Accordingly, for housing, if the land area attached to the house is 18㎡, it is expected to be included in the permission target.

A Ministry of Land official said, "The anti-speculation task force launched last February detected some signs of speculation in development sites including Yongsan Station Maintenance Depot," and added, "We will continue to conduct ongoing crackdowns."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.