Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on the 8th said of President Lee Jae-myung's first anniversary press conference, "The extinction of jeonse is not normalization, but a 'policy disaster' in which the housing ladder for ordinary people has collapsed."
Oh said in a post on social media (SNS) that day, "At today's first anniversary press conference, the president answered that the recent sharp drop in jeonse listings and the rise in monthly and jeonse rents are a 'normalization process,'" and stated accordingly.
Oh said it was "a detached view that is utterly oblivious to the pain on the ground," adding, "It was truly concerning whether the president is gripped by a very wrong conviction, or whether there are aides reporting distorted information."
He went on, "What we are seeing now with jeonse disappearing is not some natural phenomenon following the tides of the times," adding, "It is a painful result caused by the government's misguided real estate policies, and a scene from a 'policy disaster' in which the foundation of housing stability for ordinary people is being shaken."
Oh also said, "The most important factor, 'supply,' is entirely missing from the president's perception," adding, "The jeonse market does not move on demand alone."
He added, "Seoul's current jeonse crunch is not due to changes in demand, but because supply is shrinking much faster due to the government's heavy-handed regulations."
Oh said, "Tightening end-user occupancy obligations through the expansion of land transaction permit zones across Seoul, the contraction of rental businesses due to excessive lending regulations, and continued pressure on multiple-home owners have not normalized the market," adding, "They have only rapidly pushed market participants who supplied jeonse out of the market."
He continued, "With the government having completely cut off the flow of jeonse supply, the remaining people without homes are engaged in a heartbreaking competition for an absurdly small amount of inventory."
Oh said, "The average price of a Seoul apartment has surpassed 1.3 billion won. Yet the government has tightly capped maximum home loans at 600 million won," adding, "A government that has wrecked the market so you need 700 million won in cash to buy a home has no standing to call jeonse—the only lifeline for ordinary people—a relic of history."