Jinseongjun: "Housing Price Increase Is Market Failure, Not Policy Failure"

Jinseongjun, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-eun] Jin Seong-jun, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, recently commented on the rising housing prices, saying, "It is more of a market failure than a policy failure." Earlier, Jin sparked controversy with his remark "Still, housing prices do not fall" during an appearance on MBC's '100-Minute Debate' in July, which he later clarified and apologized for.

On the 7th, Jin stated on KBS Radio's 'Kim Kyung-rae's Strongest Current Affairs,' "The government has never implemented policies to raise housing prices but has pursued policies to curb them," adding, "When these policies are excessively enforced, the shock to the market and people's livelihoods becomes too great, so very targeted policies, called pinpoint policies, have been used."

He continued, "Rather, because of this, a balloon effect has appeared in other regions, showing the limitation of overall housing price increases," and explained, "Starting with the July 10 real estate measures, more comprehensive and fundamental policies have begun to be introduced, and maintaining this policy consistency is extremely important for stabilizing the real estate market."

Regarding the nomination of Byun Chang-heum as Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Jin said, "Byun Chang-heum is considered the top authority in urban planning and housing sectors in Korea, and is recognized for combining theory and practice," adding, "Since he has been centrally involved in formulating and executing the current government's real estate policies, I believe the policy direction will be consistently maintained."

Responding to opposition parties' criticism about housing supply shortages, Jin remarked, "They always say like parrots, 'You should not try to beat the market; since the market operates by the law of supply and demand, increasing supply is the solution,'" but he pointed out, "While there is some truth to that, the real estate market is not necessarily a market where the law of supply and demand operates exactly as it does."

He added, "Is housing or apartments something that can be produced recklessly at will? Even if there is a desire to supply sufficiently, there are land constraints and time-consuming issues," explaining, "The housing supply rate reaches 104-105%, exceeding the number of households, but the homeownership rate is only 58%. Even if ten million units are supplied, those who already own homes will continue to own them, and they do not go to the non-homeowners?this is the reality of the real estate market."

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