Minister Kim Yun-duk of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on the 15th, "If we miss the golden time for stabilizing the dwellings market, it could become even harder for the public to buy a home and secure housing stability," adding, "We will place dwellings market stabilization at the top of government policy priorities and mount a full-scale response across relevant ministries."
At a joint briefing held after a meeting of real estate-related ministers at the Government Complex Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul, that day, the Minister said, "Instability in the dwellings market not only threatens housing stability for ordinary people, but also leads to reduced motivation to work and weaker consumption, which can sap vitality across the broader economy." The Minister added, "We intend to respond preemptively to cut off instability in the dwellings market at an early stage and to guide capital toward more productive institutional sectors."
That day, the government announced a dwellings market stabilization plan that designates all of Seoul and 12 areas in Gyeonggi Province as land transaction permit zones and regulated areas. The plan also includes differentiating mortgage loan limits within the capital region and regulated areas based on the price of the dwelling. For apartments priced at 1.5 billion–2.5 billion won, the loan limit will be 400 million won; for apartments over 2.5 billion won, the limit will be 200 million won.
The Minister said, "We will additionally designate areas with concerns about overheating in the dwellings market as adjusted target areas and speculative overheating districts," explaining, "Including the existing three Gangnam districts and Yongsan-gu, we plan to designate all 25 autonomous districts of Seoul as target areas. In Gyeonggi Province, we will additionally designate a total of 12 areas, including Gwangmyeong, Gwacheon, and Bundang."
The Minister added, "We will also add land transaction permit zones to impose an owner-occupancy requirement when purchasing dwellings and block gap investing," saying, "As with speculative overheating districts, we will additionally designate all autonomous districts of Seoul and 12 areas in Gyeonggi Province as land transaction permit zones, and we will actively consider extensions if necessary."
The Minister also mentioned plans to rationalize real estate taxation. The Minister said, "To guide funds into productive institutional sectors, we will form a task force (TF) with relevant ministries to conduct a comprehensive review of real estate taxation and prepare reasonable improvement measures."
The Minister went on, "We will root out illegal acts related to real estate and establish order in transactions," adding, "Through a planned investigation into price-boosting practices, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is referring suspected cases for investigation, and going forward we will introduce special judicial police for real estate within the ministry to respond more proactively to real estate crimes."
In particular, the Minister continued with a pledge on supply. The Minister said, "We will move more swiftly on follow-up measures to the 'dwellings supply expansion plan' announced on 9.7," adding, "Because the 9.7 measures focus on improving conditions for dwellings supply, there is a time lag before effects appear, which I believe makes it hard for the public to be confident that the measures are being carried out properly."
The Minister emphasized, "Within the ministry, we will launch a supply measures implementation inspection TF led by the 1st Vice Minister as Director General to rigorously manage implementation plans and progress by task, and we will continuously inform the public of the status to secure trust in supply."