"Villa Like an Apartment" to Control Jeonse Prices...? Market Says "Absurd"

'Villa Like an Apartment' Criticized as 'Absurd'
Community Lacks Security and Has Poor Parking
"Who Would Buy a Villa If They Have Money?"
Noise Between Floors, Defects... Dispute Resolution Is Not Easy

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] "The reason people prefer apartments over villas is because of the living environment. Everyone wants to live comfortably in a more pleasant and safe environment, so does it make sense to say there is no difference between apartments and villas just because the interior looks decent?"

The government has proposed 'villas' as a solution to the rental housing shortage instead of apartments, which will be in short supply over the next two years, but this has met with public backlash. Villas is a term that collectively refers to multi-family and multiplex housing under the Building Act, meaning communal housing other than apartments.

According to the government on the 23rd, Kim Hyun-mi, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Jin Sun-mi, Chairperson of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee and member of the Democratic Party, and Byun Chang-heum, President of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), visited Seoul villa purchase rental housing consecutively around the weekend. This was to emphasize the advantages of purchase rental housing, which accounts for the largest share of supply in the 'Support Measures for Housing Stability for Low-income and Middle-class' announced by the government on the 19th.

At the site, Minister Kim said, "For multi-family housing, if it exceeds a certain scale, childcare facilities or fitness centers are built," adding, "Security issues are addressed by installing closed-circuit television (CCTV), and quality has also been improved." President Byun also said, "If there are about 300 households, there is no difference from an apartment," and "Purchase rental housing is not a place where vulnerable or poor people live, but can be made into a community where people with similar hobbies live together."

However, in the market, there are criticisms that comparing apartments and villas itself is absurd when considering scale and infrastructure facilities. In fact, Asia Economy compared a large-scale R apartment complex and an A villa in Myeongil-dong, Gangdong-gu, Seoul, and the differences were stark. Both residences are within a 3-minute walk, located near subway Line 5 stations, with similar location and area (exclusive use 60㎡). The completion dates are also close, with the apartment completed last year and the villa this year.

The problem lies in the living conditions. The R apartment is a large complex with over 1,900 households, equipped with various resident-exclusive convenience facilities such as parks, community facilities, and joint security, separated from the outside. On the other hand, the A villa is directly exposed to a side street and lacks any resident convenience facilities. The parking lot in the R apartment is located underground and is ample with 1.2 spaces per household.

Conversely, the A villa has about one parking space per household, and even that space is only the legal minimum size. As a result, despite similar areas, the rental price of the R apartment is around 700 million KRW, double the 350 million KRW of the A villa. The R apartment is the complex where Jin Sun-mi, who caused controversy with her remark that "people need to give up illusions about apartments," resides. A representative from real estate agency B in the area said, "People only rent villas because they lack money; who would want a villa instead of an apartment?"

An industry insider said, "Although multi-family and multiplex housing can be built with interiors similar to apartments, there is almost no room to provide separate community facilities," adding, "Most parking lots only meet the legal minimum, and while management fees are relatively cheap, security and cleaning are poor accordingly."

Lee Eun-hyung, Senior Researcher at the Korea Institute of Construction Policy, said, "The cause of the rental housing shortage pointed out by the market is apartments, not villas," and predicted, "The effect of the measures will be minimal." In fact, many analyses suggest that it is practically difficult to create a large-scale villa complex of 300 households in Seoul, where land is scarce, and include apartment-level community facilities. Even if villas are built as large complexes, the supply is limited or they are likely to be located in peripheral areas with poor locations. Moreover, considering that this measure is a temporary policy until apartment supply expands in 2023, it is unlikely to have a significant effect.

Criticism is also growing in online real estate communities regarding this measure focusing on villa supply. One villa tenant said, "Most villas built by individual business owners have low construction costs, leading to many quality defects and disputes," adding, "There is no proper dispute resolution institution like apartment management offices, so people who have lived in villas only look for apartments."

Another villa tenant said, "There are villas managed cleanly as complexes, but most have difficult parking and severe noise between floors and units, to the extent that you can hear the vibration of a neighbor's phone," adding, "Disadvantages also include cigarette smell, waste separation, cleaning, and community facilities." A tenant who lived in a villa for nearly 10 years and then moved to an apartment said, "The complex and infrastructure where my child can run freely is the best."

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