Did Development Information Leak Massively? Sudden Surge in Land Transactions Just Before 3rd New Town Announcement

Incheon Gyeyang, Choji Transaction Volume Increases Over 4 Times
Similar Trends in Hanam Gyosan, Namyangju Wangsuk, Goyang Changneung
Possibility of Extensive Pre-Leakage of Development Information

Saplings were planted on the 10th on a piece of land in Gwarim-dong, Siheung-si, Gyeonggi-do, where allegations of land speculation by some employees of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) in the Gwangmyeong and Siheung new towns have been raised.
Siheung - Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

In addition to the Gwangmyeong-Siheung district, where employees of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) have been suspected of land speculation in new towns, it has been revealed that land transaction volumes in the 3rd phase new towns?including Incheon Gyeyang, Goyang Changneung, Bucheon Daejang, Namyangju Wangsuk, and Hanam Gyosan?surged sharply just before the government announced the designation of these new towns. This suggests the possibility that development information was widely leaked in advance across the new towns.

According to the Korea Real Estate Board's statistical information system on the 10th, in November 2018, the volume of pure land transactions (excluding buildings) in Gyeyang-gu, Incheon?including sales, gifts, exchanges, and judgments?reached 336 parcels, marking the highest ever at that time. This was more than four times the previous monthly average transaction volume of 78 parcels. One month later, in December of the same year, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced plans to develop the 3rd phase new town “Gyeyang Technovalley” on a 3.33 million square meter site in Dongyang-dong, Bakchon-dong, Gyulhyeon-dong, and Sangya-dong, Gyeyang-gu, Incheon, to accommodate 17,000 households and 39,000 people.

Land transactions in Hanam Gyosan and Namyangju Wangsuk showed similar patterns. The volume of pure land transactions in Hanam City surged to 472 parcels in December 2018, when the Gyosan district was announced, more than doubling from 228 parcels the previous month. In Namyangju, 1,321 parcels were traded in December 2017, a year before the new town announcement, marking the highest monthly transaction volume ever. Up until December of the following year, when the new town was announced, monthly transaction volumes exceeded 1,000 parcels on four occasions.

In Deogyang-gu, Goyang City, where Goyang Changneung is located, the transaction volume ranged from 100 to 200 parcels from January to April 2019, then jumped to around 300 parcels in May of the same year when the new town was announced. Bucheon, where the Daejang new town was announced, had an average monthly land transaction volume of 108 parcels in 2018, maintaining around 100 parcels the following year, before recording 223 parcels two months prior to the new town announcement in March.

The Gwangmyeong-Siheung district, designated as the sixth 3rd phase new town on the 24th of last month, saw its land transaction market stir starting from 2017, when LH employees began purchasing land. The volume of pure land transactions in Gwangmyeong City was below 1,000 parcels at 893 in 2016, then surged to 1,036 parcels in 2017, 1,665 parcels in 2018, 1,715 parcels in 2019, and 2,520 parcels in 2020. In Siheung City, the volume of pure land transactions reached a record high of 9,243 parcels in 2017.

Following the speculation allegations involving LH employees, the government is investigating land transactions since December 2013. Given the possibility that insiders may have profited by using internal information before the new town announcements, the plan is to scrutinize all transactions from the time of district designation proposals. There is also a possibility that the investigation scope will expand to include areas near the 3rd phase new towns.

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