"Cold Local Housing Market Despite 'Deposit Guarantee and Interest-Free Interim Payments'"

'Dalseo Lotte Castle Central Sky' Night View Perspective

As the enthusiasm in the subscription market has somewhat cooled this year, there is an increasing number of extreme measures being taken to resolve unsold housing units. The voices of local governments demanding removal from regulated areas are also growing louder.

According to the sales industry on the 17th, complexes offering drastic conditions such as contract deposit safety guarantees, deferred interest payments, and fixed contract deposits are appearing in local sales markets. This is a typical phenomenon during a sluggish sales market. Lotte Construction has decided to provide a contract deposit safety guarantee to contract holders of Dalseo Lotte Castle Central Sky (apartment section) currently being sold in Daegu. This system refunds the entire contract deposit without penalty if the contract holder wishes to cancel the contract at a certain point after signing. Lotte Construction introduced this for the first time in Daegu to alleviate buyers' concerns about falling house prices. Typically, if a contract is canceled at the contract deposit payment stage, the deposit is not refunded and the buyer must pay double the amount as compensation.

Some have lowered the contract deposit from 20% to 10%, while others have accepted a small fixed amount as the deposit. Last month, Pohang Xi Atherton in Pohang, Gyeongbuk, and Haneulchae Dearban in Gumi, Gyeongbuk, offered a first contract deposit benefit of 10 million KRW. The Sharp Songdo Ark Bay in Incheon Songdo and Urban Fore Natural & e-Pyeonhansesang in Anyang, Gyeonggi, set the contract deposit at 10%. The intention is to slightly increase the contract rate by lowering the initial financial burden. There are also cases of interest-free loans for intermediate payments. Despite offering interest-free benefits on intermediate payments, complexes such as Gyeongju Elcrew Heripark and Nampo-hang Taewang Honors could not avoid unsold units.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, as of the end of January, the number of unsold houses nationwide increased by 22.7% from the previous month to 21,727 units, marking the fourth consecutive month of increase. As the backlog of unsold units worsens, local governments have begun demanding removal from regulated areas. The Ministry stated, "Seven local governments have requested removal from the adjusted target areas this year," and added, "Whether to lift the restrictions can be reviewed at the next Residential Policy Deliberation Committee meeting (expected at the end of March)."

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