Policy by Byeon Chang-heum: 'Supply through high-density urban development, regulation is anti-market'

[Asia Economy Reporters Yoo In-ho and Moon Je-won] The outline of real estate policies by Byeon Chang-heum, the nominee for Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, has been revealed.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Unlike other ministerial nominees, he unusually presented specific policy directions during the confirmation hearing held on the 23rd. The core keywords are ▲high-density urban development ▲supply of public owner-occupied housing at half the market price ▲profit recovery and strengthened regulations.

In particular, through the hearing, Byeon openly expressed support for the ruling party's 'one household, one house' bill, which has sparked controversy over socialist ideas, raising concerns that he might impose even stronger anti-market regulations than Minister Kim Hyun-mi.

According to the National Assembly and industry sources on the 24th, Byeon's top priority policy for expanding housing supply appears to be high-density urban development.

At the hearing, he enumerated specific target areas such as 'station areas, low-rise residential zones, and semi-industrial areas,' and even mentioned concrete measures like expanding the station area radius to 500 meters and increasing the average floor area ratio to around 300%.

Byeon stated at the National Assembly confirmation hearing the previous day, “There is a lot of land available for development in Seoul, such as station areas, low-rise residential zones, and semi-industrial areas,” adding, “Seoul has 307 subway stations, and if the station area is extended to 500 meters, it would cover almost half of Seoul’s area.”

However, the main agent for supply expansion still emphasizes 'public' rather than 'private.' Although he mentioned relaxing floor area ratios for reconstruction, this is premised on public participation.

Another axis of supply is affordable public owner-occupied housing. The main target is the 3rd New Town development. It is expected that various experiments will be undertaken to supply housing at about half the market price, such as resale condition housing and land lease housing, which he has advocated in the past.

Byeon presented specific plans, saying, “If the National Assembly enacts a special law, public owner-occupied housing such as resale condition housing can be supplied at 60% or half of the market price, which will revolutionize residential culture,” and “We need to decide before the first half of next year how much of the 3rd New Town will be allocated to sale housing, rental housing, and public owner-occupied housing, and when increasing floor area ratios in urban areas to supply housing, additional public owner-occupied housing can also be supplied.”

Despite the expansion plans, the overall framework of Byeon’s real estate policy revealed through the hearing is 'strengthening regulations.' Regarding the controversial 'one household, one house system' proposed by Jin Sung-jun of the Democratic Party, Byeon stated, “I support it.”

In his earlier written response, he mentioned the possibility of further increasing property tax rates, saying, “According to the principle of fair taxation, the higher the price and the more houses owned, the stronger the tax burden should be.”

Additionally, stronger profit recovery measures for the private sector are also anticipated. In fact, he holds the view that “systematic discussions are needed on how to distribute development gains and capital gains” as a prerequisite for revitalizing reconstruction and redevelopment.

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