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By Kwon Mee-yoo
Amid the neck-and-neck race between the two top presidential candidates Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) and Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), housing and real estate have emerged as the key policy areas affecting the election results, a recent poll showed.
According to the survey conducted by Hankook Ilbo, the sister paper of The Korea Times, in collaboration with the polling agency Hankook Research, 26.3 percent answered that housing and real estate policies are the most important issues that would influence voters' decisions on their picks.
Other issues also likely to impact the results are job creation and labor policies with 11.5 percent, economic growth plans with 11.1 percent, reform on prosecution and the media with 10.9 percent and economic polarization and social welfare issues with 7.8 percent.
Soaring real estate prices are considered one of the biggest policy failures of the current Moon Jae-in administration, as the President himself acknowledged last year. The average price of apartments in the greater Seoul metropolitan area has more than doubled in about five years under the Moon administration, despite the government rolling out over 20 regulations to cool down the overheated real estate market.
When asked which candidate would solve the key policy issues better, 40.4 percent answered that Yoon would deal with the real estate issues better than any other candidates, higher than 29 percentage points for his rival Lee.
Yoon pledged to build some 2.5 million new homes during his term by easing regulations on private redevelopment and reconstruction projects. He also vowed a reform on real estate tax, including the abolishment of a comprehensive real estate holding tax and reduction of a property acquisition tax.
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| Voters picked housing price and real estate policy as the most important issue that will impact the election results according to a survey conducted by Hankook Research at the request of Hankook Ilbo on Friday and Saturday. The photo shows a view of apartment complexes in Seoul, seen from Mt. Nam, Thursday. Yonhap |
Lee's pledge also includes supplying 2.5 million housing units, but the number includes 1 million basic housing units. Lee will apply a price cap for new apartment prices and post-sale system to contain housing prices.
Lee previously proposed a temporary deferral of transfer tax for owners of multiple properties and additionally vowed to adjust property taxes and other real estate taxes gradually to reduce the burden on homeowners.
For job creation and employment policies, 45.6 percent responded that Lee would do better than Yoon on the issue, compared to 25.8 percent who chose Yoon, while 46.6 percent chose Lee over 27.2 percent of Yoon based on their economic growth plans.
For reform on prosecution and the media, 67.9 percent answered Lee would deal with the issue the best, compared to 17.3 percent choosing Yoon. Yoon's pledges are in favor of strong prosecutorial power, due to his background as prosecutor general.
Overall, Lee showed the most strength in economic issues, but the current administration's failure to stabilize the real estate market led voters to support the opposition candidate for a change in government.
The survey questioned 1,000 adults on Feb. 18 and 19 and has a confidence level of 95 percent with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Further details of the survey are available on the websites of Hankook Research and the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.
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