Cheong Wa Dae said on the 22nd that it is checking the "status of home ownership" among the ministries in charge of real estate policy, including the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, as well as Cheong Wa Dae aides. At the direction of President Lee Jae-myung, this is to exclude from the policy discussion process any relevant policy official who owns multiple dwellings or a single home held for investment or speculation rather than as a primary residence.
At a Cheong Wa Dae briefing that afternoon, senior presidential secretary for public affairs Lee Kyu-yeon said, "(The president's order to exclude them from duties) shows the will to design dwellings policy forcefully," adding, "We are checking the real estate holdings of policy officials, and plan to implement the duty-exclusion measure afterward." He also said that such directives from the president, including a full survey, were delivered to each ministry.
Lee said, "It is not about telling people to forcibly sell multiple dwellings, but about often saying we would prepare better policy tools so that disposing of them would be preferable," adding, "In that situation, the president appeared to think it was not right for multiple-home owners to take part in designing real estate policy."
Earlier that morning, the president posted on X (formerly Twitter) and directed that among Cheong Wa Dae and Cabinet aides, public officials who own multiple dwellings or high-priced non-residential homes be excluded from the processes of discussion, drafting, reporting, and approval on real estate. Seeking to show a "will to normalize real estate," it came about a month after he and first lady Kim Hea-kyung put up for sale an apartment in Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, which they had held in joint title, on the real estate market on the 27th of last month.
The government will end the temporary suspension of capital gains tax surcharges on multiple-home owners as of May 9. Although the previous Yoon Suk-yeol administration revised enforcement decrees and extended it several times, the president ordered an end to the tax break to normalize the dwellings market. There are also plans to reduce or abolish the long-term holding special deduction for single homes not actually occupied. The presidential policy office and relevant ministries are currently reviewing tax reform plans.