The government will add 230,000-plus α dwellings in the greater Seoul area. It first unveiled candidate sites for new public housing land sized for 27,200 dwellings across three locations—Seoul's Gangseo District and the cities of Namyangju and Gwangju in Gyeonggi Province—and will release additional candidates for more than 73,000 dwellings within the year. While speeding up the plan from the Sept. 7 package last year to break ground on 1.35 million dwellings in the greater Seoul area by 2030, it also aims to secure more supply through new housing sites.
Relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Financial Services Commission, on the 13th released a "rapid dwellings supply plan to stabilize the jeonse, wolse and sales markets." The government will increase supply by adding new public housing sites and converting nonresidential land to residential land, while concentrating financial, tax and procedural support on existing public housing sites, urban renewal projects and urban complex projects.
◇ New sites in Seoul's Gangseo and elsewhere… more than 100,000 dwellings to be announced within the year
The new public housing candidate sites the government unveiled that day are three locations: Yeomchang-dong in Seoul's Gangseo District; Wabu-eup in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province; and Jangji-dong in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province.
Around Yeomchang Park in Seoul's Gangseo District, 51,000 square meters will supply 1,000 dwellings. The site had remained undeveloped after a private development project was canceled in 2006. Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) will participate as project operator, and by shortening procedures such as district designation and district planning, the goal is to break ground in 2029.
In a 2.28 million-square-meter greenbelt area near Dosim Station in Wabu-eup, Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, 21,700 dwellings will be created. In the Gyeonggi Gwangju Station Area District 2 in Jangji-dong, Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, 4,500 dwellings will be built. The two candidate sites aim to undergo district designation in the second half of 2027 and break ground in the first half of 2030.
Within the year, the government will additionally release candidate sites for new public housing land totaling 73,000-plus α dwellings. Including the sites unveiled that day, the new public housing supply exceeds 100,000 dwellings. Until the candidates are disclosed, it will temporarily designate all greenbelts across Seoul and some greenbelts in the greater Seoul area adjacent to Seoul as land transaction permit zones to block speculative transactions.
The government will also push measures to convert nonresidential land to residential land to supply 30,000 dwellings and to ease regulations in military facility protection zones to secure an additional 3,700 dwellings.
◇ Public housing groundbreaking shortened by 1–2 years… Taereung CC to break ground in 2029
The start of construction for existing public housing sites will also be moved up. The government will introduce a "fastest-track groundbreaking model" that cuts the average project period from 68 months—from candidate announcement to dwellings groundbreaking—to 37 months. District designation and planning, compensation and relocation, and site development will proceed simultaneously.
Through this, the groundbreaking schedules for 89,000 dwellings in existing public housing sites, including third-phase new towns, will be advanced by at least one to two years. Of these, 41,000 dwellings were originally slated to break ground after 2031.
Urban supply sites released in the Jan. 29 package—including Taereung CC, the Gwacheon Racetrack and the Defense Counterintelligence Command—will all break ground by 2030. Starting next year with about 3,000 dwellings on former military land in Seoul's Gangseo District, the Taereung CC, Gwacheon Racetrack and counterintelligence command sites are planned to break ground in 2029. Other urban sites, including the Yongsan International Business District, will also see procedures expedited.
◇ Faster renewal and urban complexes… easing loans for buying villas
Redevelopment and reconstruction projects will be supported so that 234,000 dwellings can break ground in the greater Seoul area by 2030. In Seoul, the government will encourage more than 22,000 dwellings a year to break ground, above the average of the past 10 years.
For the urban public dwellings complex project, the government will additionally release candidate sites in Seoul in the second half of this year for 10,000 to 20,000 dwellings and push to break ground on 51,000 dwellings by 2030. Through small-scale renewal projects, it plans to break ground on 22,000 dwellings over the same period.
Underused urban sites such as school land and public institution offices will also be used to supply dwellings. On unused school land—including the former Gonghang High School site in Seoul's Gangseo District; Suo High School and Gwonseon 2 Middle School in Suwon; and Heungi Middle School in Yongin—1,438 dwellings will be supplied. Office sites of public institutions in the greater Seoul area, such as the LH Seoul Regional Headquarters in Seoul's Gangnam District, will also be converted to residential land.
Financial regulations will also be eased to increase non-apartment supply such as villas and row houses. When housing sales and rental businesses purchase new general dwellings such as villas, the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio for mortgage loan will be raised from the current 0% to 30% in regulated areas and 60% in nonregulated areas. The government will diversify public sale types for young adults and newlyweds and introduce long-term financial support so that the private sector can operate rental dwellings for more than 20 years.
However, most new public housing sites target groundbreaking in 2029–2030, and locations for the more than 73,000 dwellings to be released within the year have not yet been set. Existing sites and renewal projects also still face permitting and compensation procedures, so the immediate effect on increasing jeonse and wolse listings or move-in supply is expected to be limited.
The government will establish a "pan-government rapid dwellings supply review meeting" chaired by the prime minister to monitor project progress. Minister Kim Yun-duk of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) said, "We will continuously review and supplement supply conditions so that policy efforts do not end up as a one-off."