Won Hee-ryong: "House prices fell 6% from a 50% increase... This is not a crash"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] On the 21st, Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stated regarding the recent decline in housing prices, “I do not consider a 6% drop after a 50% price surge during the rapid increase period as a crash.”

At the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee’s audit of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the same day, Minister Won responded to the People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Kyung-joon’s remark that preemptive measures should be taken against the decline in housing prices by saying, “Apartment prices nationwide rose by an average of 50% and then fell by about 6%.”

He explained, “We are closely monitoring the market situation,” adding, “Currently, sellers’ asking prices are set excessively high, so the market’s price adjustment function is not working properly, making it difficult to define the current price and transaction situation as a specific phase.”

He continued, “The current decline in real estate prices and decrease in transactions are not only occurring in the real estate market but are largely due to macroeconomic conditions,” and said, “To make the slope more gradual, we are considering accelerating the normalization of excessive regulations or easing measures on the overly heavy burden caused by financial debt.”

Regarding the criticism that unsold housing units in the metropolitan area have increased, he stated, “In the case of Seoul, especially apartments, the scheduled move-in volume for 2022 is at the lowest level ever recorded, around 20,000 units,” and added that since the scheduled supply and move-in volume itself is almost at a bottleneck level, it is premature to conclude that there is a price crash.

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