It was found that more than 1,000 cases were uncovered over the past five and a half years of acts that disrupted order in the real estate market, such as artificially manipulating dwelling prices, illegal brokerage, and false reporting of transaction amounts.
According to materials delivered on the 9th by lawmaker Yun Jong-gun of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee, from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the total number of measures taken against acts disrupting real estate transaction order tallied from 2021 through June this year reached 1,005.
By type of action, referrals for investigation were the most frequent at 477. They were followed by administrative dispositions by local governments at 337 and notifications to the tax authorities at 191.
Looking at the annual trend, the number of detected illegal transactions has been rising rapidly every year. There were only 53 in 2021 and 2 in 2022, but the number increased to 121 in 2023, 218 in 2024, and 373 in 2025.
In particular, as of June this year, 238 cases had already been detected, surpassing 60% of all measures taken during last year. In the first half of this year, the crackdowns resulted in 100 notifications to tax offices, 73 referrals for investigation, and 65 administrative dispositions.
An analysis of key violations shows that, in cases of price-fixing collusion to artificially raise market prices, referrals for investigation accounted for the majority at 124. In addition, there were 18 notifications to tax offices and 3 administrative dispositions. For violations of the duty to explain—failing to accurately disclose material information about listings—there were 112 administrative dispositions and 35 each for referrals for investigation and notifications to tax offices. In cases of lending licenses or names to others, there were 82 referrals for investigation, 43 administrative dispositions, and 9 notifications to tax offices.
Specific expedient practices uncovered in the field were varied. One licensed real estate agent lent the business name and the agent's own name to an unlicensed individual and allowed the unlicensed person to directly conclude real estate contracts, before being caught.
Another broker issued a false contract, backdating documents to a date other than the actual contract date when concluding a lease agreement, and received a business suspension. At an officetel sales site, there was also a case in which an "up-contract," writing the contract at a price higher than the actual sale price to increase the buyer's loan limit, was induced and a false actual transaction price was reported, resulting in fines.
Lawmaker Yun Jong-gun said, "Real estate transaction order–disrupting acts such as home price collusion and poor explanations toy with the hopes of people who visit real estate agencies with the dream of owning a home," adding, "Government authorities and local governments must eradicate acts that disrupt real estate transaction order through stricter oversight and punishment."