The Democratic Party of Korea's think tank, the Democratic Research Institute, said housing supply in Seoul has been markedly sluggish since Oh Se-hoon took office as Seoul mayor. The Seoul Metropolitan Government countered that the drop in permits was due to the spread of "jeonse fraud," which weakened the market for multi-family homes commonly called low-rise apartment, and that the declines in groundbreakings and completions stemmed from policies under former Mayor Park Won-soon.
In a special edition of its policy briefing, "People Power Party local government evaluation series 1: tears of Seoul citizens," published on the 19th, the Democratic Research Institute pointed out that permits, groundbreakings, pre-sales, and completions in Seoul were all significantly sluggish. It also said Mayor Oh Se-hoon was shifting blame by saying, "Former President Moon Jae-in and former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon dried up the seeds of supply."
The Democratic Research Institute compiled housing supply statistics by dividing into 52-month periods based on Aug. 2021, around when Mayor Oh won the by-election and returned to office (Apr. 2021). It said that compared with the previous 52 months, over the most recent 52 months Seoul housing supply fell by 13.9% in permits, 36% in groundbreakings, 22.8% in pre-sales, and 9.9% in completions.
It added that permits rose 7.6% in all regions nationwide excluding Seoul, but fell 13.9% in Seoul. It said, "A decline in permits means that while supply is emphasized, actual administrative results did not back it up."
The Seoul Metropolitan Government countered that the statistics involve an optical illusion. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's housing construction performance statistics cited by the Democratic Research Institute are released monthly, separating apartments from non-apartments such as single-family, multi-household, multi-family, and row dwellings, and presenting permits, groundbreakings, and completions. It explained that by detailed type, permits for multi-family homes plunged in 2022–2023, when jeonse fraud became a controversy, and that had an impact.
Regarding the Democratic Research Institute's claim of a "decline in permits," it said that if statistics are calculated separately for redevelopment projects, the main means of supplying apartments, designations of redevelopment zones under the Fast-Track Urban Planning Program nearly quadrupled after Mayor Oh took office compared with before. It also countered that approvals for project implementation increased by more than 1,000 units compared with the previous period.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said, "The absolute decrease in groundbreakings and completions is mainly due to the characteristics of redevelopment projects, which take close to 20 years, and the most significant cause is the decline in new redevelopment zone designations during the more than 10 years of the previous mayor's tenure."