In its Jan. 29 supply plan, the government chose Yongsan as the largest housing supply site in Seoul. It plans to build dwellings on every piece of land available, including the Yongsan International Business District, which will develop the Yongsan rail maintenance depot site; Camp Kim, which hosted the U.S. Forces Korea Special Operations Command; the Seobinggo-dong "501st Intelligence Battalion" site; the Yongsan detention basin; and Yongsan Post Office.
If the government's plan proceeds, a total of 13,501 households will be built across Yongsan. It said it would supply 10,000 dwellings in the international business district that will develop the rail maintenance depot site. This means the plan is to fit a residential complex the size of Helio City in Songpa-gu (9,510 households; area about 346,570㎡) into the depot site.
Analysts say the government presented Yongsan as the core of the supply plan because there is no idle site in Seoul with a location and transportation conditions superior to Yongsan. The government has often faced strong opposition when it announced new towns in areas far removed from end-user housing demand, but Yongsan, a core Seoul location connected to Yongsan Station, is unlikely to face such criticism.
However, because the Seoul Metropolitan Government has opposed expanding dwelling supply in places such as the Yongsan International Business District, citing a lack of infrastructure such as schools and roads, it remains unclear whether the actual supply of dwellings can proceed as the government plans.
◇ "Core location to calm pent-up demand"
Nam Hyeok-woo of Woori Bank's Real Estate Research Institute said, "Yongsan is prime land in Seoul, so supplying dwellings here carries symbolic meaning, and it meets the location conditions desired by end users, helping to calm pent-up demand. That is why the government wants to supply the maximum possible volume in Yongsan."
Yang Ji-young, a senior official in asset management at Shinhan Investment & Securities, also said, "Seoul has run out of developable land, but given Seoul's pent-up demand for dwellings, a supply plan needs to come in an attractive location, which is why a plan was made to put a large number of dwellings in Yongsan."
As experts note, Yongsan is cited as one of Seoul's core locations along with the three Gangnam districts (Gangnam, Seocho, Songpa), Mapo and Seongdong. At Yongsan Prugio Summit in Hangangno 2-ga near the Yongsan International Business District, an exclusive 118.36㎡ unit sold for 3 billion won in Jul. last year. In the same complex, an exclusive 137.57㎡ unit changed hands the same month for 3.45 billion won, and an exclusive 169.34㎡ unit for 4.8 billion won. The government's plan is to build dwellings such as public rentals in this high-priced area that ordinary people find hard to access, to satisfy end users.
◇ Opposition from Seoul City and districts is "a mountain to climb"
However, backlash is expected from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Yongsan-gu, the autonomous district, and nearby residents, suggesting a rough road for implementing the government's supply plan. On dwelling supply at the Yongsan International Business District, a representative site within Yongsan, the city has maintained that it is difficult to establish surrounding infrastructure such as schools and roads. Previously, the city drafted an urban plan premised on supplying 6,000 households in the area, but when the government pushed for a 10,000-household plan, it proposed a compromise at the end of last year to supply up to 8,000 households.
Sim Hyeong-seok, head of the Udaebbang Research Institute (Professor, IAU in the U.S.), said, "The supply plan is a race against time over how quickly dwellings can be supplied, but with strong opposition from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Yongsan-gu and local residents, it will be hard to launch the project as planned," adding, "It is expected to take at least seven to eight years until move-in."
Kim Jin-yu, a professor at Kyonggi University, said, "The plan is to insert a complex the size of Helio City into the Yongsan International Business District for residential use, which would significantly reduce its function as an international business district, and there will be difficulties in advancing the project due to opposition from the Seoul Metropolitan Government and local residents."