Kim Yoon-deok, the nominee for Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said on the 29th that it is necessary to improve the uniform application of regulations on dwellings in the metropolitan area and provinces.
Song Gi-heon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, pointed out during a National Assembly confirmation hearing that "the rise in housing prices is an issue in the metropolitan area" and that "if the same standards, such as capital gains tax, are applied to dwellings in the provinces as to those in the metropolitan area, their competitiveness will inevitably decrease. As a result, the situation regarding unsold dwellings is not improving."
In response, Kim noted, "I fully agree with that," adding, "The uniform application of taxes and various regulations to both the metropolitan area and provinces needs considerable improvement."
Furthermore, Kim stated, "I believe it is necessary to thoroughly review the feasibility study (the preliminary feasibility review) system, especially, and create a system that applies the cost-benefit (BC) analysis differently to the metropolitan area and provinces; otherwise, the difficulties faced by the provinces will not only increase but could lead to extinction," emphasizing the need to recognize this as a survival issue and pledging to make an effort.
Kim added that he "strongly agrees" with Song's opinion that, for public rental dwellings, there are many applications for small-sized housing in the metropolitan area, but in the provinces, there is actually a high demand for medium- to large-sized public rentals.
Kim expressed the view that the government should be more actively involved in resolving the issue of unsold dwellings in the provinces. In response to a comment by Jeong Jun-ho, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, regarding the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH)'s poor performance in purchasing unsold dwellings in the provinces, Kim stated, "The government needs to proceed with input into the budget with will."
LH has previously announced plans to directly purchase 3,000 housing units to utilize as rental housing in order to resolve the issue of unsold dwellings in the provinces.
In response to concerns that LH's purchases of unsold dwellings in the provinces are slow due to low purchasing costs, Kim expressed agreement with the need to adjust housing purchase prices, stating, "I think it should be reviewed." He added, "There needs to be various forms of support, including financial input for the unsold dwellings issue; otherwise, it seems that this problem will remain in a state of continuous stagnation, and exceptional measures are needed."