Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
Gov't rolls out plan to supply 230,000 new homes in Seoul metro area
Land Minister Kim Yun-duk, left, speaks during a press briefing on the government's new housing supply policy at Government Complex Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
By Lee Gyu-lee
The government unveiled a plan Thursday to add more than 230,000 homes across Seoul and surrounding Gyeonggi Province, as well as accelerating construction of already planned housing units, as part of President Lee Jae Myung's struggling efforts to tame rising home prices and rents.
The government will designate new public housing districts and construct approximately 27,000 units in three locations. Western Seoul's Gangseo District will be the site of about 1000 new units, while Namyangju and Gwangju in Geyonggi Province will receive roughly 21,200 and 4,500 homes, respectively.
The ministry plans to begin construction at the three sites within three to four years, and announce the remaining sites as soon as possible.
The government also said it will move up the construction of 89,000 homes already scheduled to be built at sites including the Taereung military golf course in Nowon District, Seoul, and Seoul Racecourse Park in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.
It will also cut the time needed to begin construction on public housing sites to 37 months from the current 68 months by streamlining land development, permitting and compensation procedures.
“In addition to expanding the volume of housing available, we seek to ease housing price instability caused by supply-demand mismatches by minimizing the time lag between policy announcements and completion through groundbreaking changes to improve the speed of new housing supplies,” Land Minister Kim Yun-duk said in a briefing, Thursday.
The government will also convert underutilized nonresidential land, including commercial sites, into housing. It plans to fast-track construction of 30,000 homes on converted sites by 2030, including 10,000 units in existing new town developments.
A man walks past a real estate agency in Gangnam District, Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap
The measures come as housing prices and rental costs have soared in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area.
The ministry attributed the pressure to a decline in housing completion following a prolonged slump in construction that started in 2022, even as housing demand strengthened.
“It takes a long time to increase the supply of housing, and construction often lags behind demand. The slow recovery of supply in the private sector and general housing, which accounts for most of the housing supply, is aggravating this imbalance between supply and demand,” the minister said.
The government will also seek to revive private-sector construction through financial, tax and regulatory incentives for projects that start construction early.
The Lee administration has been striving to rein in skyrocketing home prices in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province by rolling out a series of tough measures. It introduced stringent mortgage lending restrictions in the Seoul metropolitan area and announced a housing supply plan to provide 1.35 million homes by 2030. In January this year, it pledged to build 60,000 homes on underutilized sites in high-demand urban areas, including the Taereung golf course.
The government also plans to expand affordable housing options for young people and newlyweds, including shared-equity and profit-sharing public housing, universal public rental housing and long-term private rental programs.
“By swiftly carrying out what the public sector should do and boldly supporting areas where the private sector does well, we will do our utmost to ensure a sufficient supply of the homes that people want, in the places people want, in a timely manner,” Kim said.