Noh Hyung-wook: "Freezing Official Prices Violates Law... Roadmap Will Be Steadily Implemented"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo Gang-wook] Noh Hyung-wook, nominee for Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (photo), announced his intention to steadily pursue the roadmap for the realization of official property prices despite controversies surrounding real estate price disclosures.

He also firmly drew the line against demands to freeze official prices.

In the answers submitted to the National Assembly on the 2nd for the confirmation hearing, nominee Noh stated regarding the roadmap for the realization of official property prices, "Considering the purpose of the law on official prices and the public's trust in the plan, I think it is necessary to make efforts to steadily promote the plan in principle."

Regarding opinions to slow down the pace of the roadmap, he said, "The plan was established in November last year, and since it was first applied in this year's price disclosure to calculate official prices, considering the purpose of the law on official prices and the public's trust in the plan, efforts to steadily promote the plan are necessary."

Furthermore, nominee Noh responded, "Since there is a view that the volatility of official prices this year is large and there are concerns about burdens such as holding tax, it will be necessary to examine the impact on holding tax or welfare systems that reflect official prices and discuss ways to supplement related systems with relevant ministries if necessary."

Regarding claims that property tax surged due to the increase in official prices, nominee Noh explained, "Since last year's market price fluctuations were large, official prices also rose significantly, and there are concerns that property tax may surge accordingly. However, a property tax burden relief plan was prepared, and a reduced tax rate was applied to single homeowners with official prices of 600 million won or less, accounting for 92.1% of all houses."

He pointed out, "The effect of the tax rate reduction outweighed the increase in property tax due to the rise in official prices, so in most cases, the property tax burden decreased compared to the previous year."

Regarding some local governments' demands to freeze official prices, he expressed a negative stance, calling it a 'violation of the law.'

Nominee Noh stated, "Official prices must reflect appropriate market prices according to the 'Real Estate Price Disclosure Act,' and for this purpose, the plan for the realization of official prices was established last November. Freezing official prices violates the 'Real Estate Price Disclosure Act,' which requires reflecting appropriate prices, and I think it will worsen unfairness by increasing the gap in market price reflection rates among real estate."

He also responded about transferring the authority to decide official prices to local governments, "Official prices are used for various administrative purposes operated under the same standards nationwide, such as taxation, welfare benefits, and health insurance premium calculation, so official prices need to be calculated under the same standards nationwide. If official prices for real estate with the same market price are determined differently by region, there is a risk of undermining fairness in the operation of tax and welfare systems and causing public distrust."

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