Announcement of the Basic Plan for Promoting the Real Estate Service Industry... Fostering New Industries Such as PropTech

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 24th the "1st Basic Plan for the Promotion of the Real Estate Service Industry" (2021?2025), a plan to achieve high added value and enhance trust in the real estate service industry over the next five years.

The first plan focuses on fostering promising new industries such as PropTech to create high added value, innovating outdated regulations in existing industries like brokerage and appraisal to improve their structure, and includes institutional improvements to protect the rights and interests of real estate service consumers, which have been relatively neglected compared to other industries.

Previously, the government established the institutional foundation for nurturing the industry with a mid- to long-term perspective by enacting the "Real Estate Service Industry Promotion Act" in 2018. This plan is the first mid- to long-term plan formulated accordingly.

First, the government plans to conduct public pilot projects applying various PropTechs to serve as a testbed that encourages PropTech companies to pioneer new business models. PropTech is a compound word of Property and Technology, referring to real estate services based on high-tech technologies such as mobile channels, big data analysis, and VR (virtual reality).

PropTech will be included as a target for policy fund support to promote the growth of promising startups, and regulations excluding real estate businesses from startup support in laws will also be improved. After professional research, a detailed implementation plan for fostering new industries such as PropTech will be established, and overseas expansion strategies will be prepared for companies that are competitive but have low recognition and face difficulties in market development.

Housing information will expand public data disclosure beyond existing actual transaction information to include directions and building blueprints. The existing real estate service industry will improve uniform disposal standards and revise regulations to remove entry barriers for small and medium-sized enterprises. Additionally, public offerings through methods such as REITs will be revitalized, encouraging competition based on quality rather than price.

To protect consumers, industry standards will be established for sectors where there are no certified standards, making it difficult for consumers to choose quality services. The use of electronic contracts will be promoted, and guidelines for preventing consumer damage will be prepared to strengthen the rights protection procedures for frequent real estate service consumer damages.

Jung Woojin, Director of the Land Policy Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "With the establishment of the 1st Basic Plan for the Real Estate Service Industry, government policies to strengthen the industry's competitiveness will be systematically promoted."

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