"Free Market Economic Principles, Controlling Housing Prices Both..." What Is Hong Jun-pyo's Real Estate Policy?

Respecting Freedom in Home Purchase Including Capital Gains Tax and Acquisition Tax Reductions
Also Includes Regulatory Measures Such as Limiting Two Homes per Household for a Certain Period

Hong Joon-pyo, Member of the People Power Party [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Hong Jun-pyo, a presidential candidate from the People Power Party, presented real estate measures on the 14th that include restrictions on owning two houses per household and converting multi-homeowners into rental housing corporations. While emphasizing the traditional conservative principle of a 'free market economy' as the fundamental stance of his real estate pledge, the measures also include restrictions on ownership to curb rising housing prices.

On the 14th, Hong criticized, in his Facebook 'jp Hope Letter' series, that "under the Moon Jae-in administration, real estate prices soared to an extent incomparable to the Roh Moo-hyun presidency," attributing this to "the inclusion of leftist ideology in real estate policies."

The jp Hope Letter is a series of posts by Hong that contain foundational messages for his policy pledges before officially announcing them.

He stated, "Real estate policies should be established in accordance with the principles of a free market economy," and emphasized, "Fundamentally, a policy decision is needed to prevent money from flooding into real estate." He further argued, "Policies should be revised so that real estate is not a target for investment or speculation but for housing."

As a method, he proposed, "When selling one's own house to buy a bigger one, capital gains tax and acquisition tax should be significantly reduced to allow people to upgrade their homes."

However, he also suggested temporarily limiting home ownership. Hong said, "To prevent real estate frenzy, it is inevitable to restrict ownership to up to two houses per household for a certain period," and proposed regulatory measures such as "multi-homeowners should be converted into rental housing corporations rather than individuals, with rent increase restrictions and strict tax base management to prevent market disruption."

Hong advocated for ultra-high-rise, high-density development in urban centers and stated that "all legal regulations hindering real estate development should be lifted," while also arguing that "new town policies, which indiscriminately promote urban sprawl, should be introduced in a limited manner."

He also presented measures to divert interest from the real estate market to the stock market. Hong said, "Securities transaction tax should be abolished, and taxation should be imposed only when profits are made," and added, "The stock short-selling system should be abolished."

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