Apartment complexes in Seoul are seen on Aug. 6.YONHAP
Seoul pushed back against the central government's proposal to build on green spaces on Thursday, part of a package that aims to boost housing supply and stabilize the real estate market.
“Lifting greenbelt restrictions is, in principle, difficult for us to accept,” the city government said in a statement.
Using green spaces, which the city described as assets for future generations, for housing development should be a last resort, Seoul said.
The city also expressed regret that measures with a significant impact on residents’ lives and the housing market were drawn up and announced without sufficient prior consultation with the city government.
The municipal government added that revitalizing redevelopment and reconstruction in urban areas with established jobs, transportation and other essential infrastructure would be the most direct and effective way to meet housing demand in Seoul.
While Seoul said it supported the government’s broader goal of expanding public housing supply, it called for further consultations on specific development methods and the selection of sites.
Regarding public-led housing development projects in urban areas, the city said it was unclear whether the government had taken into account its requests to exclude certain areas from candidate sites and called for sufficient consultation before any sites are finalized.
A pedestrian walks past rental listings posted outside a real estate agency in Seoul on July 15.NEWS1
For the Yongsan International Business District in central Seoul, the city said the appropriate number of homes should be determined without undermining the district’s role as an international business hub. Expanding infrastructure, including schools, and securing support from local communities should also come first, Seoul said.
However, the city welcomed parts of the government package that reflected regulatory reforms for redevelopment and reconstruction projects that Seoul had previously proposed.
The government plans to lower the consent threshold required to establish a redevelopment association — an official group of landowners that manage a project — to 70 percent from 75 percent and revise the calculation for loan-to-value (LTV) ratios for relocation loans in redevelopment and reconstruction projects.
The government will also ease some requirements for awarding construction contracts through private agreements and for securing mandatory park and green space.
Seoul said it had repeatedly called on the government to make all of those changes.
The city also welcomed measures to bring acquisition prices for rental units provided as public housing closer to market conditions and expand project financing support, saying they could reduce development costs and help accelerate redevelopment and reconstruction projects.
However, Seoul said several key measures that directly affect project feasibility and market transactions were omitted, including easing restrictions on the transfer of redevelopment association membership, raising floor area ratios for privately led redevelopment and reconstruction projects and adjusting the requirement for certain units to be rental housing for redevelopment projects.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, second from right, watches a video clip during a town hall meeting about real estate policy held at the City Hall in central Seoul on Aug. 6.YONHAP
Seoul called for further improvements in those areas.
The city also asked the government to quickly establish detailed criteria for relocation loans that would actually reduce residents’ financial burdens, rather than limiting changes to the method used to calculate LTV ratios.
In the private rental and financing sectors, Seoul said expanded project financing guarantees and relaxed LTV restrictions for businesses that buy or rent out newly built homes could help increase the private-sector housing supply.
However, the city warned that easing financial regulations alone while leaving tax rules and owner-occupancy requirements unchanged could have a limited impact on the rental housing supply and the stability of the jeonse (lump-sum deposit) and monthly rental markets.
Seoul called for a comprehensive review of related regulations, including the tax reform plan announced Aug. 3. The announced tax reform includes higher taxes for apartment owners who do not live in their properties.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
