The Blue House said regarding the controversy over President Lee Jae-myung's home sale that "the claim that the buyer has a personal connection or special relationship is groundless."
The Presidential Office Spokesperson said in a media notice on the afternoon of the 21st that "the sale was conducted through a real estate agency in the usual manner," and stated accordingly.
Earlier, the Blue House said President Lee sold his home in Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, for 2.9 billion won, below market price, and completed the title transfer on the 16th. But it later became known that, to allow the buyer to avoid restrictions on transferring union member status, the title transfer was done first in exchange for establishing a collateralized mortgage right worth 1.77 billion won.
In response, the Blue House said, "The title transfer was done in consideration of the buyer's circumstances, and the establishment of the collateralized mortgage was conducted transparently under a civil agreement between the parties to the transaction," adding, "The collateralized mortgage is for the unpaid balance to be settled at the end of Oct."
It also said, "The president's home is the single residence where the presidential couple actually lived for 28 years," emphasizing, "To show the will to normalize the real estate market, it was disposed of below market price, giving up the expected gains from redevelopment."
It also pushed back against allegations of redevelopment favoritism. The Blue House said, "The designation of the sold apartment as a leading redevelopment district took place in Nov. 2024 under the previous Yoon Suk-yeol administration, and the Seongnam mayor at the time was also from the People Power Party," adding, "The claim of preferential designation for redevelopment is absurd."