The reconstruction project for Olympic Park Foreon (formerly Dunchon Jugong Apartment) in Gangdong District, Seoul, with more than 12,000 dwellings, has come to a close. But a series of hiccups along the way is deepening residents' sighs.
According to the maintenance industry on the 26th, the Dunchon Jugong Apartment Housing Reconstruction Maintenance Project Association announced on the 25th the transfer of ownership of the land and building facilities. The transfer notice is the procedure in which, after building completion approval is granted, the association distributes to occupants the ownership of the land and buildings it has secured. The district office must finalize the transfer notice for occupants to register individual titles to the homes they live in. It is effectively the last stage of the reconstruction project before the association is dissolved.
Unlike general apartments, reconstructed apartments have their completion approval announced after temporary occupancy approval is granted and move-ins are finished. And it usually takes one to two years until the transfer notice. Legal ownership is recorded on the registry, and because this enables the exercise of property rights such as ownership and jeonse rights, the transfer notice is important to association members and general buyers.
Olympic Park Foreon, famous as the "largest since the time of Dangun" reconstruction complex, was built with a total of 12,032 dwellings across three underground floors to 35 above-ground floors. Although construction was halted from Apr. to Oct. 2022, it received completion approval in Nov. 2024. Move-ins proceeded through Mar. 2025, and the transfer notice came about a year later.
But residents' expressions are not entirely bright. Once registration is issued after the ownership transfer notice, they can refinance by comparing all banks' loan products like with general apartments, but successive government loan regulations are making conditions difficult. After the June 27 loan regulations and the Oct. 15 real estate measures last year, the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio for single-home owners is 40%, LTV for multiple-home owners is 0%, and the loan limit is capped at 600 million won.
A person surnamed Yang (40), who purchased a 59-square-meter exclusive area unit, said, "It's time to refinance the remaining balance loan now, but rates are high and the limit isn't coming through, so I can't bring myself to do it," adding, "It has become much harder to get a loan than at the time of move-in, so my wife and I sigh every night."
There was also a case in which an association member who had signed a sale contract just before the transfer notice demanded to cancel the contract, saying the terms were unilaterally favorable to the buyer. It is believed the seller belatedly realized that around the transfer notice the nature of the transaction changes from occupancy rights to a general apartment and that the price could rise further.