Oh Se-hoon Pledges 'Seoul Nae Jip' Program: Young Homebuyers Only Pay 20% of Housing Price

Targeting About 300,000 Young Households Without Homes in Seoul
Applicants Can Choose Any Home Priced at or Below 1.2 Billion Won

Oh Se-hoon, the Seoul mayoral candidate of the People Power Party, pledged the 'Seoul Naejip' policy, which allows young adults to move into homes priced at 1.2 billion won or less by paying only 20% of the housing price.

On the 17th, Oh Se-hoon, the Seoul mayoral candidate of the People Power Party, announced the 'Seoul Naejip' real estate pledge at his election campaign office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. This policy allows homeless young adults to purchase a house in joint equity with Seoul Housing & Communities Corporation (SH) by only bearing 20% of the housing price. Photo by Yonhap News

On the 17th, Oh announced a policy to actively allocate urban development profits to address youth housing issues.

Oh’s campaign explained, "This policy targets approximately 300,000 young households in Seoul without homes and who cannot rely on parental support." They added, "Following previously announced or ongoing initiatives like Mirinaejip, Baronaejip, Saessak One-room, and Youth Safe Housing, this completes the 'Seoul Chance Five Housing Types' policy package."

Under the Seoul Naejip program, as of this year, homeless young adults can select and apply for a home of their choice priced at or below the median home price in Seoul, currently 1.2 billion won. The Seoul Housing & Communities Corporation (SH) will directly purchase the home. The young adult pays 20% of the home price, and SH covers the remaining 80%. Ownership is split accordingly: the young adult holds a 20% share, and SH owns 80%. However, the decision to sell the property rests with the young resident. When moving out, the young adult receives an amount proportional to their share based on the market price at the time of sale. Since this is a policy for actual residents, subletting for monthly or yearly rents is not permitted. Priority support will be given to young adults facing greater financial hardship, based on factors like household type and parental asset levels. The target age group for this policy is 19 to 39 years old.

The funding will be secured by creating a 'Development Profit Youth Asset Fund' using public contributions that arise from the urban planning approval process. The main source is the 'pre-negotiation system,' which Seoul introduced for the first time nationwide during Oh Se-hoon's first term as mayor in 2009 and has since spread to 28 local governments. Under this system, when private developers increase project profitability by, for example, raising land-use zoning, a portion of the development profits is collected by the city as a public contribution. Oh’s campaign stated, "Seoul is currently carrying out various large-scale development projects in succession, and more are planned for the future, so the fund is structured for continuous expansion."

Oh emphasized, "True urban growth means that as Seoul prospers, young people’s assets also increase," adding, "Seoul will be the first to build a system where development profits flow not into a few pockets but into the assets of future generations."

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