[Weekly Review] Recruiting 1,181 Tenants Next Month for Public Rental Housing with 30 Years of Residence

Tax Revenue Increases by 53.7 Trillion Won by October
Prices Expected to Rise Until Early Next Year
Government Activates 'Seol Holiday Price Response System'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] The government will recruit the first residents for 1,181 units in preferred locations such as Gwacheon Knowledge Information Town and Namyangju Byeollae in January next year. The integrated public rental housing consolidates the previously complex rental types such as permanent rental, national rental, and happy housing into a single qualification and supply standard, allowing residents to live for up to 30 years. In relation to last month's 3.7% rise in consumer prices due to strong prices of agricultural and livestock products, the government decided to start managing 'Seol holiday prices' from this month.

◆ First recruitment of 1,181 units for public rental housing next month = The government is accelerating preparations for the implementation of integrated public rental housing. Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, said, "Integrated public rental housing is an important step toward realizing quality lifelong housing," adding, "Starting with recruiting the first residents for 1,181 units in preferred locations such as Gwacheon Knowledge Information Town and Namyangju Byeollae in January, we plan to supply about 70,000 units annually as integrated public rental housing."

Eligible residents are members of households without homes whose average monthly income is below 150% of the median income standard and whose total assets are below the average net assets of the third income quintile (based on the fifth quintile), which was 288 million KRW last year. Deputy Prime Minister Hong stated, "We will also newly introduce medium-sized housing (exclusive area 60?85㎡) preferred by 3-4 person households in connection with integrated public rental housing and plan to supply them at a quality level comparable to sale housing."

The plan for introducing medium-sized housing is 1,000 units this year, 6,000 units next year, 11,000 units in 2023, 15,000 units in 2024, and 20,000 units after 2025. In addition, this month, the government plans to implement the largest pre-sale of the year with 17,000 units and designate eight main districts under the 2·4 housing plan, among other visible measures to increase housing supply.

◆ Almost all taxes for this year collected by October = Corporate tax and value-added tax collected until October this year exceeded the government's forecast for the year. Including these, national tax revenue reached 307.4 trillion KRW, with a progress rate (income ratio against annual forecast) of 97.8%.

On the 9th, the Ministry of Economy and Finance released the 'Monthly Fiscal Trend' report, stating that total revenue until October this year was 489.9 trillion KRW, with a progress rate of 95.2%. Corporate tax and value-added tax collected from January to October were 67.3 trillion KRW and 71.9 trillion KRW, respectively. Due to continued economic recovery, the progress rates of corporate tax and value-added tax were 102.6% and 103.6%, respectively, compared to the forecast in the second supplementary budget, which is an increase of 7.3 and 1.9 percentage points compared to the same period last year. The progress rate of income tax, including capital gains and earned income tax, was also close to 100% at 96.8% compared to the second supplementary budget. The progress rate of income tax increased by 15.7 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

From January to October this year, cumulative national tax revenue increased by 53.7 trillion KRW compared to the same period last year, reaching 307.4 trillion KRW. Although this is a decrease from the 59.8 trillion KRW increase recorded from January to September last year, it still represents a significant increase.

On the 3rd, citizens were shopping at a large supermarket in downtown Seoul. According to the July Consumer Price Trends announced by Statistics Korea on the same day, prices of agricultural, livestock, and fishery products rose 9.7% compared to a year ago. In particular, eggs surged 57.0%, marking the highest increase in four years since July 2017 (64.8%). Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

◆ Prices will rise until the first half of next year = The Bank of Korea analyzed that the high global inflation trend will continue at least until the first half of next year, maintaining the upward price trend. In particular, global prices are expected to exert increasing upward pressure on domestic prices in the future.

According to the Bank of Korea's econometric model analysis, when global prices rise by 1 percentage point, the impact on domestic prices increased from 0.1 percentage points during 2000?2007 to 0.26 percentage points during 2010?2021, with strengthened statistical significance.

The Bank of Korea forecasted that high prices will last longer than expected, considering upward price pressures from demand and cost sides in major economies, delays in resolving supply bottlenecks, and rises in wages and inflation expectations. Especially next year, as idle production capacity in major countries significantly decreases, demand-side inflationary pressure is expected to expand, and international raw material prices are likely to continue their upward trend, further increasing corporate cost burdens.

◆ Six-month extension of egg tariff quota, full effort to manage Seol holiday prices = To prevent price instability of eggs caused by the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) in laying hen farms, the government will extend the reduced tariff quota on imported eggs for six months. Additionally, the government will activate the Seol holiday price response system three weeks earlier than usual.

Lee Eok-won, First Vice Minister of Economy and Finance, said on the 10th, "To proactively respond to price instability of eggs, which have seen increased anxiety due to recent AI outbreaks, we will import 30 million eggs in December," adding, "Next year, to ensure continuous imports of eggs and egg products, the tariff quota will be extended for six months, applying to 100 million eggs per month."

Vice Minister Lee also stated, "This year, we will activate the Seol holiday price response system starting next week, three weeks earlier than usual," and "We will designate 17 key items for price stabilization during the Seol holiday, including rice among the 16 major seasonal items." The key price stabilization items include cabbage, radish, apple, pear, chestnut, jujube, beef and pork, chicken, eggs, pollack, squid, hairtail, mackerel, croaker, dried anchovies, and rice.

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