Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said on the 13th that "Seoul apartment prices have risen for 86 straight weeks, surpassing the longest record of 85 weeks under the Moon Jae-in administration," and urged the government to "conduct a full review of the real estate policy framework's three pillars—supply, lending, and taxes."
Oh posted on Facebook the same day under the title "We must abandon 'blind faith in owner-occupation' and 'tax panacea'," and said this.
Oh said, "What is even more serious is the intensity of the rise," adding, "The cumulative monthly sale price increase rate of Seoul apartments during the first year after each administration took office is 14.73% under the Lee Jae-myung administration, far exceeding 11.68% under the Roh Moo-hyun administration and 9.41% under the Moon Jae-in administration."
Oh especially pointed out that the upward trend in apartment prices in areas outside the so-called "Gangnam area," including Gangnam, Seocho, and Songpa districts, is unusual. He said, "From June to August, Seoul apartment sale prices rose an average of 3.5%, but Dongdaemun District rose 5.8%, Geumcheon District 5.4%, Dobong, Gangseo, and Gangdong districts 4.7%, and Nowon District 4.3%," adding, "A so-called 'leveling up' phenomenon is becoming clear, centered on non-Gangnam areas and the outskirts of Seoul."
He continued, "During the same period, while Seoul jeonse prices rose an average of 3.5%, Seongbuk District rose 6.0%, Jungnang District 5.5%, Nowon and Guro districts 5.0%, Gangbuk District 4.8%, and Seodaemun District 4.7%," adding, "Even jeonse prices are far outpacing the Seoul average, centered on areas mainly sought by ordinary people and younger generations."
Oh said, "When demand was suppressed by lending regulations, that demand was pushed to mid- to low-priced areas on the outskirts, ultimately driving up both sale and jeonse prices in those areas," adding, "The government's real estate policy, which has been consistent with 'blind faith in owner-occupation' and 'tax panacea,' has not curbed housing prices but instead ratcheted up price levels across Seoul step by step."
He said, "Newlyweds and young people who tried to buy their first home on the outskirts of Seoul, where the price burden is lower, are again frustrated in front of a broken housing ladder," adding, "On the other side, the retired generation who worked all their lives to buy a single home worry they may have to leave the neighborhood where they have lived for decades because of the tax burden."
Oh said, "If the government is running a hope circuit by looking only at the numbers showing that the upward trend in prices in parts of Gangnam has eased, it is making a big mistake," adding, "We must also look at whether young people do not have to leave Seoul because of housing prices, whether families raising children can keep living in their neighborhoods, and whether the retired parent generation does not have to leave the homes they have lived in all their lives because of taxes."