Choi Inho, HUG President: "HUG to Provide Villa Price Data This Year... Certification Mark for 'Safe Jeonse'"

Expanding Beyond Guarantees into Direct Supply
Supplying 3,000 Ddeundeun Jeonse Housing Units This Year
Establishing HUG’s Own Rental REITs
Launching Four New Guarantee Products Including Senior Welfare Housing

Choi Inho, President of the Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG), announced on the 7th that HUG will directly provide market price information for villas (multi-family and row houses), which have been exposed to risks of jeonse fraud due to a lack of reliable price data. HUG is also considering attaching an HUG certification mark to properties deemed low-risk after evaluating factors such as jeonse deposits and senior debt amounts.

At a luncheon press conference with reporters held at a restaurant near the Government Sejong Complex to mark his 100th day in office, President Choi stated, "To reduce the blind spots in the non-apartment jeonse market, HUG will launch the 'Safe Villa Price' service using its own data," adding, "We plan to calculate appropriate regional and age-based market prices by combining HUG's appraisal data with actual transaction information and provide a map-based visualization service."

Additionally, HUG will introduce the 'HUG Certified Premium Jeonse' service. HUG will assess the safety of listings by comprehensively reviewing market prices, average deposits, and senior debt amounts, granting a certification mark to properties considered less risky than the regional average. President Choi explained, "Just as some properties on proptech apps are marked as certified by real estate agents, we will pursue a plan to grant a certification mark from HUG," and added, "We will integrate with private platforms such as Naver Real Estate and Zigbang through an open API, allowing the public to check this information directly via their everyday apps."

However, the scope of the service and update intervals have not yet been finalized. HUG commented, "As this is still in the conceptual stage, it's difficult to specify the frequency and extent of the service at this time," but added, "We aim to launch it within the year." In order to increase the credibility of the new service, HUG plans to seek national statistics certification. Currently, HUG holds two nationally certified statistics: trends in the private apartment presale market and housing guarantee statistics.

Choi Inho, President of the Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG), is announcing new business plans at a press conference marking his 100th day in office, held at a restaurant near the Government Sejong Complex on the 7th. HUG

President Choi also expressed his intention for HUG to expand its role from a guarantee provider to a supplier of rental housing. He said, "Since last year, we have supplied approximately 1,800 Ddeunden Jeonse Housing units, and this year we aim to supply about 3,000 units." Recently, HUG revised its internal regulations to expand the eligible properties for purchasing Ddeunden Jeonse Housing from only row houses, multi-family houses, and officetels to also include apartments with more than 150 units. President Choi noted, "Interest from young people and housing-vulnerable groups has been so high that we've seen competition ratios as high as 70 to 1 for Ddeunden Housing," adding, "We are determined to achieve the goal of supplying 3,000 units this year." Ddeunden Jeonse Housing refers to public rental housing where HUG repays the jeonse deposit on behalf of landlords who cannot return it, then acquires the property through auction and rents it out again at 90% of the market price.

The 'HUG-Style Rental REITs' project, in which HUG directly invests to supply rental housing, will also be accelerated. President Choi stated, "In addition to investments from the Housing and Urban Fund, we will establish REITs using HUG's own resources to directly supply rental housing," adding, "We recently explained the project at a meeting with organizations such as the Korea Developers Association, and some developers expressed interest in participating." This represents a plan to expand HUG's role from a guarantee provider to a direct supplier.

On this day, President Choi also unveiled four new guarantee products: guarantees for relocation and cost-sharing in residential regeneration innovation districts, guarantees for public redevelopment project loans, guarantees for rental deposits in senior welfare housing, and guarantees for the securitization of trustee expense reimbursement claims. All of these are targeted for launch within the year. The public redevelopment project loan guarantee will primarily support 45 public redevelopment and reconstruction sites promoted by Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) and three first-phase new town redevelopment projects, with the expectation of facilitating the supply of approximately 92,000 housing units when launched.

The rental deposit guarantee for senior welfare housing is designed to fill a gap in housing for the elderly, where demand is rapidly increasing due to an aging population. Senior welfare housing, commonly known in the market as 'Silver Town,' has not been classified as rental housing under the Private Rental Housing Act and thus had been outside the scope of guarantee products. President Choi stated, "If the guarantee product is launched in the second half of the year, specific senior housing projects utilizing it could materialize as early as the beginning of next year." This product allows project operators to utilize funds by receiving admission deposits before construction is completed, while ensuring that tenants' deposits are safely protected. A HUG official added, "We will disclose the specific scope and conditions of the guarantee once the product is finalized."

The '3D Residential Construction Digital Viewer,' which visualizes construction progress at sites using 3D graphics, will also be launched within the year. The plan is to allow presale buyers to check the progress of key construction stages, such as framework work, in real time. President Choi commented, "By visualizing information that was previously only available as simple numbers (progress rates), we will better inform presale buyers of their rights," adding, "While this may be somewhat inconvenient for construction companies, transparent information for presale buyers is essential."

Meanwhile, when asked about the National Assembly audit's suggestion that landlords' credit ratings should be reflected in the screening for jeonse guarantee enrollment, President Choi responded, "The Safe Jeonse Application currently categorizes landlord information into three grades, and we plan to further enhance this." Choi Changyoung, Head of HUG's Jeonse Guarantee Division, added, "Since the structure involves tenants applying for and joining the guarantee, we believe making it easier for tenants to enroll is more important, so we are not considering changes to the product structure at this time."

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