Pre-Subscription, Risk of Becoming a '10-Year-Long False Hope'

Hanam Gamil Bogeumjari Pre-Subscription in 2010
Some Places Still Unoccupied After 10 Years

Taereung Golf Course, 3rd New Town, and More
Land Compensation, Cultural Assets, and Various Variables
Could Become a 'Second Gamil'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Concerns are being raised that the 'pre-sale' of public housing in the metropolitan area, totaling 60,000 households, could potentially lead to a prolonged waiting period for move-in due to project delays. From the perspective of successful applicants, even after being selected as residents, they might endure a 'hope torture' of not being able to move into their new homes for over 10 years. In fact, some complexes that underwent pre-sale in the past have yet to be occupied even after more than a decade.

Pre-sale in 2010, but move-in only in 2021?

Hanam Gamil B7 Block bird's-eye view. Originally scheduled for occupancy in 2015, but occupancy only began in June last year. (Provided by Hanla)

According to industry sources on the 11th, among the 3,173 households in seven complexes of the Gyeonggi-do Hanam Gam-il District public housing pre-sale conducted in November 2010, three complexes have still not been occupied. The B1, B3, and B4 blocks are the affected complexes, with a total of 1,465 households reserved through the pre-sale at that time.

The earliest move-in among the seven complexes was at the B7 block, which only began occupancy in June last year, and the other three complexes also only became available for move-in in the first half of this year, more than nine years after winning the pre-sale. At the time of the pre-sale, the government had scheduled the main sale between December 2012 and May 2013. It was announced that move-in would occur in 2015, five years after the pre-sale date, but none of the seven pre-sale complexes moved in according to the government's proposed schedule.

The project faced setbacks because the pre-sale was conducted before the compensation procedures were completed, and during development, as many as 52 Baekje-era tombs were discovered in large numbers. During this process, some complexes had parts of their sites converted into historical parks, resulting in a reduction in project scale.

Exhausted from waiting... More than half gave up on the main sale

Ultimately, the B3 and B4 blocks in Gam-il District held their main sales in January last year, 5 years and 8 months later than originally planned. Move-in will only be possible in October next year. If someone won the pre-sale at age 35, they would only be able to move in at age 46. Considering the five-year resale restriction, disposal would only be possible around age 50.

However, despite the house prices rising relatively more at the time of the main sale, there was a definite advantage in terms of sale price. The estimated sale price announced during the 2010 pre-sale was 320.8 million KRW per 74㎡ household. The actual sale prices for pre-sale applicants were similar to the estimated prices: 319.37 million KRW (B3 block) and 321.18 million KRW (B4 block) for the standard floors (5th floor and above). This is about 170 million KRW cheaper than the general sale prices of 485.78 million KRW (B3 block) and 494.19 million KRW (B4 block).

Nevertheless, despite these advantages, the prolonged project delays ultimately triggered a large-scale withdrawal of winners. Among the 598 pre-sale applicants for the B3 and B4 blocks, only 283 (47.3%) participated in the main sale. It appears that many winners, exhausted by the long 'hope torture,' eventually gave up and pursued other housing sales or purchases.

The withdrawal from the main sale by pre-sale applicants was not limited to Gam-il District. According to data on the 'Pre-sale Housing Reservation System' submitted by the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) to Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Kwan-seok in October last year, only 41% (5,512 out of 13,398) of public housing pre-sale applicants actually received supply.

At the time, Rep. Yoon criticized, "It is a flawed system that pre-sells houses before land compensation is done, making people wait indefinitely and only rewarding those who endure until the end with a lottery."

'Viewing Cultural Heritage' Hanam Gyosan, UNESCO World Heritage Joseon Royal Tombs... Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport: "We will not repeat past mistakes"

Perspective view of the 3rd New Town Hanam Gyosan. There is a possibility that numerous cultural assets are buried within the planned site of the Hanam Gyosan district. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport explained that only areas with a very low possibility of cultural asset excavation were selected as pre-subscription target sites through thorough investigations. (Provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

Industry insiders point out that the large-scale pre-sale starting in the second half of next year also has a high likelihood of similar issues arising.

Within the Hanam Gyosan District, where the government has confirmed 3,600 pre-sale units, there are cultural assets such as Treasure No. 332, the 'Iron Seated Shakyamuni Buddha Statue at Cheonwang Temple Site in Hanam Hasachang-dong,' and Treasure No. 981, the 'Carved Seated Yaksa Shakyamuni Buddha Statue in Hanam Gyosan-dong.' Archaeologists note that "the area around Gyosan District was considered the Baekje Hanam Wirye Fortress," and there is a high possibility of large-scale cultural heritage discoveries during excavation. Similarly, the Taereung Golf Course in Nowon-gu, Seoul, targeted for pre-sale next year, is adjacent to the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Taereung and Gangneung Royal Tombs.

Additionally, large-scale new town projects often involve forced acquisition of private land, leading to frequent project delays due to conflicts over compensation with residents. On this day, the 'National Public Housing District Solidarity Council,' formed by the union of over 50 public housing and acquisition district countermeasures committees nationwide, including the 3rd New Town, issued a statement warning, "If the government pushes forward with pre-sale without improving unreasonable laws and systems to ensure rightful compensation for expropriated residents, we will launch a strong struggle against the government."

In response, a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport official stated, "This pre-sale project has prepared supplementary measures, such as conducting it after partially completing land compensation, to avoid repeating the mistakes of the public housing project." They added, "In the case of Hanam Gyosan, we fully recognized the possibility of cultural heritage discoveries and selected only areas with very low likelihood of such findings as pre-sale targets after conducting surveys and field investigations." Regarding Taereung Golf Course, they also stated that development will proceed in a way that minimizes damage to nearby cultural heritage.

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