[Q&A] "New Housing Site Announcement in the Second Half... Speculation Signs More Excessive Than Expected"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] The reason the government postponed the announcement of the second round of new public housing site candidates to the second half of the year is due to the discovery of excessive speculative activities beyond expectations. In fact, among the candidate sites, some areas saw land transaction volumes in a specific year increase eightfold in the second half compared to the first half.

On the 29th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that speculative signs such as increased transaction volumes and share transactions were found in some areas among the 150,000-unit scale second round of new public housing site candidates. They have requested a police investigation and postponed the final announcement to the second half of the year.

The following is a Q&A with Kim Kyuchul, Director of the Public Housing Promotion Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

▲ Why were metropolitan area sites excluded from the second round of new housing site candidates?

- After analyzing land transaction volumes, share transactions, corporate, minor, and non-local transaction ratios over five years for the new housing site candidates, we found more excessive speculative signs than expected. We judged that it would be inappropriate to announce first and investigate later when speculative signs have been found. Therefore, we first requested a police investigation and decided to announce after an in-depth investigation by the Land Transaction Analysis Planning Team.

Also, follow-up measures announced on March 29 in the real estate speculation eradication plan are currently in the legislative process. We plan to announce the new housing site candidates after the legislation progresses to some extent.

▲ Will sites be excluded from the candidates if speculation is confirmed?

- Since consultations with local governments have been completed, even if speculators are found in some candidate sites, it is not a matter to immediately exclude the sites themselves. We will carefully judge while considering the overall police investigation results. We plan to proceed without any disruption to the overall housing supply plan.

▲ Can you provide specific examples of suspected speculation?

- For example, in local Area A, the land transaction volume in the first half of a specific year was 56 cases, with a share transaction ratio of about 18%, but in the second half, the transaction volume was 453 cases, and the share transaction ratio was as high as 87%. It is difficult to say that such cases occurred in all areas, but it is clear that there were many speculative transactions.

▲ When is the announcement of the second round of new housing site candidates expected?

- We expect to be able to announce around the second half of the year once follow-up measures and the legislative process related to the real estate speculation eradication plan are somewhat settled.

▲ There are growing concerns that the postponement of the new housing site announcement might disrupt the government's public housing supply plan.

- Currently, urban projects are progressing smoothly with strong support from local governments and residents. We do not expect any disruption to the overall supply even if the announcement of new housing site candidates is delayed to the second half. To emphasize, there is absolutely no disruption to the overall volume of supply.

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