Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on the 22nd again requested a meeting with President Lee Jae-myung regarding real estate policy. With the government set to announce a tax reform plan in July and senior officials repeatedly mentioning the need to toughen real estate taxes, he said he would explain the ripple effects.
On social media the same day, in a post titled "It is not a last resort but a measure that should not be used," Oh said, "No sooner had the local elections ended than the government finally pulled out the card of strengthening property and capital gains taxes."
Oh said, "Although the president called real estate tax hikes a 'last resort,' they were hurriedly brought out just one year into the administration," adding, "With supply blocked, the government is insisting on the failed path of trying to tame housing prices with taxes alone."
He added, "The presidential office's policy chief argues that taxes should be strengthened to prevent liquidity from the semiconductor boom from flowing into real estate," and "Even if they misread the cause, they have badly misread it."
Oh also said, "Funds move strictly according to market conditions. If money is flocking to real estate, it is not because taxes are low but due to anxiety over supply shortages, concentrated housing demand, and expectations for future value," adding, "Therefore, what the government should do now is not a tax bomb, but to respond with strong supply that meets demand and with normalization of reconstruction and redevelopment."
He went on, "The National Tax Service commissioner claims that adjusting the exclusion from heavier capital gains taxes and the special long-term holding deduction for registered rental business operators would have the effect of supplying about 68,000 dwellings in Seoul," adding, "This too is a misjudgment born of not understanding market conditions. This is not new supply but merely a change in ownership of existing dwellings, so the housing stock does not increase."
Oh said, "If rental dwellings are converted to owner-occupied use, only jeonse listings will disappear from the market," adding, "Already, Seoul's jeonse listings have fallen more than 30% from a year earlier. If tax burdens are added on top of this, landlords will lock up listings and pass rent increases on to tenants, accelerating a monthly rent crisis that only eats away at the disposable income of young people and ordinary citizens."
He continued, "Real estate policy is judged by results, not intentions," adding, "We clearly remember the horrific failure in the Moon Jae-in administration, when it failed to rein in housing prices and only drove tenants into a hellish jeonse crunch."
Ahead of discussions on tax reform, Oh repeatedly requested a meeting with President Lee Jae-myung. He said, "I ask that you be sure to hear the views of the Seoul Metropolitan Government. I have not the slightest intention of engaging in political controversy," adding, "Based on accurate on-site data accumulated by the city and the actual conditions of declining jeonse supply, we will explain in detail the ripple effects this tax reform will bring."
Earlier, on the afternoon of the 20th, Oh said on TV CHOSUN's "Gangjeokdeul" that he had requested a meeting with the presidential office to convey his views on real estate issues to President Lee Jae-myung.