Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on the 15th released a video in which he steps in as a "real estate star instructor" to diagnose the current administration's real estate problems. The 26-minute video features Oh asserting that over the first year of the Lee Jae-myung administration, prices for sales, jeonse deposits, and monthly rent all rose.
On this day, the Seoul Metropolitan Government posted the video titled "Star Mayor Oh Se-hoon — what couldn't be fully covered at the Cabinet meeting: Lee Jae-myung administration's real estate hell, cause analysis report" on the mayor's official website and on the social broadcast Live Seoul.
Oh said apartment sale prices in Seoul rose 13.1% over the past year. He said jeonse deposits climbed 6.3%, marking the highest growth in 11 years. He argued monthly rent increased 7.4%, the largest rise since related statistics began.
Oh stressed that the administration's demand-suppression policy triggered a "triple rally." He said the policies the government released over the past year were uniformly regulatory, including mortgage loan limits, expanded regulated areas, and heavier capital gains taxes for owners of multiple homes, adding that they resemble the policy flow under Moon Jae-in.
Oh pointed out that after the June 27 measures, which capped mortgage limits at 600 million won, buying demand did not disappear but shifted to apartments priced at 1.5 billion won or less. He said, "After the measures, 78.1% of all transactions in Seoul concentrated in apartments priced at 1.5 billion won or less, which led to price increases outside Gangnam." He continued, "The measures intended to rein in Gangnam home prices ended up driving up prices in non-Gangnam areas, the Han River belt, and even the outskirts of Seoul," adding, "Overall price trends kept rising, only pausing briefly right after the measures." He said, "The bill for misguided real estate policy did not go to speculators but to young people, newlyweds, and middle-class owners of a single home."
Oh also raised an issue with the government not reflecting Seoul City's input in policy. The day before, he attended a Cabinet meeting to share views on real estate policy but, without a chance to speak, had to substitute by submitting a 30-page report.
Oh said, "(Seoul City) made 18 proposals to the government over seven rounds in the past year," adding, "This isn't about confronting the government. Real estate isn't about ruling and opposition parties; it's about people's lives, so Seoul City, which sees the field most closely, is sharing data."
As early as tomorrow, in part two, Oh will explain the policy shift needed to normalize the real estate market, Seoul City's measures, and the concrete solutions proposed to the government.