Recently, so-called "pinpointing" of rental households at major Seoul reconstruction apartment complexes has been spreading on online communities and social media (SNS). As layout charts containing the building and unit numbers of rental households are shared, a mood of singling them out for ridicule is spreading. To eliminate discrimination against rental housing, the Seoul city government has operated a "social mix" policy since 2021 that mixes sales and rentals in reconstruction and redevelopment complexes.
According to the real estate industry on the 30th, the Seoul city government sent an official letter to housing and construction-related associations and organizations asking them to be careful about the leakage of sensitive information such as the building and unit numbers of rental households. It also asked the associations to guide member companies to delete such information if rental households are marked separately on sales websites or in informational materials.
Through the official letter, the city said, "Recent media reports covered cases in which building and unit number information for public rental housing—confirmed by public lottery in accordance with relevant laws and included in management and disposition plans related to maintenance projects—was exposed externally, providing grounds for discrimination," and added, "We ask that association members be cautioned about leaks of specific information such as building and unit numbers, and that they be guided to delete the building and unit number information of rental households currently marked separately on sales websites."
The reason the city stepped in is that layout charts that can predict the distribution of rental households are being shared one after another in KakaoTalk group chats and online communities for major apartment complexes in Seoul. Of course, layout charts intended to provide information to association members or for-sale households are not illegal in themselves. However, because association member allotments, general sales, rental housing, and retained lots are distinguished in different colors, it is effectively possible to identify which building and unit are rental households.
The problem is that these layout charts are being used as tools for avoidance or ridicule of rental housing. For example, when the layout chart for Jamsil LEEL in Songpa District, Seoul, which is one month from move-in, spread in an online community recently, malicious comments targeting rental housing such as "Rental households don't pay but only receive benefits" and "They live on higher floors than for-sale households" drew controversy. Achieving record-high asking prices even before move-in, Jamsil LEEL includes 208 households designated as rental or retained lots under the city's social mix policy.
Earlier this month, a real estate community shared a post titled "Rental ratios in major Seoul complexes," compiling rental housing ratios for major apartment complexes such as Raemian La Classe, Banpo Summit, Banpo Xi, Jamsil Raemian I'Park, Jamsil LEEL, One Bailey, and THE H Banpo L'Classe. In the comments, responses praising complexes with a "0% rental household ratio" as "cool" drew many likes.
This situation goes beyond simple online mockery and can hinder maintenance projects. When residents of Jamsil Jugong Complex 5 in Songpa District tried to concentrate rental housing in low-rise, less-preferred buildings, the Integrated Deliberation Committee for Maintenance Projects put the review on hold, saying it "does not conform to the social mix principle." At Hangang Mansion in Ichon-dong, Yongsan District, 16 households to be donated to the Seoul city government were placed along the Han River line contrary to the association chair's promise, and the chair was ultimately dismissed.
A real estate industry official said, "The higher-end the complex, the stronger the perception that if rental households move in, the 'level of residents' daily life or culture drops and it affects apartment prices,' so similar things are happening in many places," and added, "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Seoul city government are putting in various mechanisms to prevent discrimination against rental households, but without direct penalty provisions, it is not easy for the social mix policy to take root."