As the jeonse shortage intensifies, especially for apartments in Seoul, only 164 public rental apartments supplied by Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) were actually delivered in Seoul through February this year following the launch of the Lee Jae-myung administration. That amounts to 0.38% of the roughly 42,500 apartments in Seoul held by private rental operators that the government is pressuring to sell.
According to materials received from LH by Rep. Lee Jong-uk, the People Power Party's secretary on the National Assembly's Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee, the total number of new public rentals (construction and purchase) supplied by LH in Seoul from June 2025, when the Lee Jae-myung administration launched, through last month was 3,004 dwellings. Among these, apartments—the dwelling type most sought by end users—numbered just 164 (10 by construction and 154 by purchase), or 5.45%. This is based on units actually available for move-in, not groundbreakings or purchases. Lee said, "Because the supply is extremely limited, for end users, moving into a new public rental apartment in Seoul has become like 'plucking a star from the sky.'"
More than half (53.0%) of the apartments supplied were small units with exclusive areas of 60㎡ or less. The 10 construction-rental units were ultra-small dwellings—29–36㎡ (about 9–10 pyeong)—created by extending existing buildings as Happy Housing and permanent rental housing, and the 154 purchase-rental units also had an average area of only 58.18㎡, making it highly impractical to meet family housing demand.
Plans for future supply are also insufficient. According to Lee's analysis, the number of Seoul apartments actually available for move-in under this year's LH public rental supply plan is estimated to be 435. On the construction-rental side, 219 Happy Housing units are slated for supply, while on the purchase-rental side, applying last year's apartment share (4.8%) within Seoul's public rental supply suggests the figure will remain around 216 units.
Lee said, "With no proper supply, the government has focused solely on cracking down on multiple-home owners and private rental operators, rolling out only policies that squeeze the market. As a result, the jeonse market has grown more unstable, and the 'freedom of residential mobility' for low-income people and end users is being constrained," adding, "Even now, the government must fundamentally reset real estate policy, break away from one-sided regulation, and put all its efforts into expanding supply in ways the public can tangibly feel."