Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's 'Moa Housing' to Supply 30,000 Units in Low-Rise Residential Areas by 2026

Pilot Project Site for Moa Housing

When Designating Moa Town

Relaxation of Floor Limits, Upzoning, and Incentives up to 37.5 Billion KRW

Target of 30,000 Housing Units by 2026

Pilot Projects in Two Locations: Beondong in Gangbuk and Myeonmok-dong in Jungnang

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is introducing a new redevelopment model called ‘Moa Housing’ for aging low-rise residential areas where large-scale redevelopment is difficult. This is one of Mayor Oh Se-hoon's key housing pledges.

On the 13th, Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced the Moa Housing promotion plan at the Moa Town pilot project site in Beondong, Gangbuk-gu, and stated that a total of 30,000 new housing units will be supplied by 2026.

Moa Housing is a redevelopment model where owners of adjacent multi-family and multiplex housing lots combine their individual lots to jointly develop high-quality housing on a block scale. It can be pursued when securing a land area of 1,500㎡ or more. Large-scale redevelopment projects typically take about 8 to 10 years from planning to completion. In contrast, small-scale housing redevelopment projects targeting individual houses can be completed within 2 to 4 years as they omit procedures such as redevelopment plan establishment, promotion committee approval, and management disposition plan authorization.

The city also introduces the concept of Moa Town, which manages areas within 100,000㎡ where block-scale Moa Housing is collectively promoted as one group, like a large apartment complex, and expands various convenience facilities. Areas with over 50% aging and within 100,000㎡ are designated as Moa Towns (small-scale housing redevelopment management areas).

Seoul has initially selected two pilot Moa Town sites where small-scale housing redevelopment projects are collectively promoted: Beondong (50,000㎡) in Gangbuk-gu and Myeonmok-dong (97,000㎡) in Jungnang-gu. The goal is to complete these by 2025 and supply 2,404 housing units.

Beondong in Gangbuk-gu is adjacent to the Uicheon Stream and has favorable surrounding road conditions but suffers from a lack of parking spaces and almost no green areas, resulting in poor residential environment. The city plans to designate this area as a Moa Town in February and supply 1,262 households by 2025.

Myeonmok-dong in Jungnang-gu is a densely populated area of aging multi-family and multiplex houses, with Myeonmok Station and a traditional market nearby, but poor living conditions due to insufficient parking. The city plans to designate approximately 97,000㎡ area surrounded by Myeonmok Station and arterial roads as a Moa Town and supply about 1,142 housing units by 2026.

The city plans to designate a total of 100 Moa Towns over five years, selecting 20 sites annually through autonomous district competitions and resident proposals starting this year.

First, this year, candidate sites will be accepted through autonomous districts from February 24 to March 2, with selections planned in March. Selected districts will receive subsidies for plan establishment to quickly develop management plans, and after integrated city review, will be designated as Moa Towns within the year.

Separately, for the 13 small-scale housing redevelopment management area candidates designated by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport through a competition last year, resident opinions will be collected and plan feasibility reviewed. Some candidates such as Geumcheon-gu and Jungnang-gu are expected to complete designation procedures as management areas as early as February, with others to be completed in the first half of this year.

Incentives for designation as a Moa Town include: up to 37.5 billion KRW in national and city subsidies per site for public and infrastructure facility creation; relaxation of floor limits up to 15 floors in areas zoned for up to 7 floors (Type 2); upzoning; support for integrated parking installation; and support for public architect design.

To prevent speculative forces such as share splitting, the Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to announce February 20 as the rights assessment date for the small-scale housing redevelopment management area candidates designated through last year’s competition. For newly selected areas through this year’s competition, the announcement date of the competition results will be designated as the rights assessment date.

Mayor Oh Se-hoon said, "Through the Moa Town project, which is a win-win solution, we will transform low-rise residential areas in Seoul where large-scale redevelopment is difficult into neighborhoods where people want to live, comparable to large apartment complexes."

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