Mayor pushes to expand supply through redevelopment projects
'Fast-track integration' to manage 85,000 units by skipping preparatory committee stage
Youth housing progress to be monitored on a weekly basis
"I will personally oversee redevelopment projects. Install a progress board for the Rapid Integration Planning scheme in my office."
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is tightening his grip on the campaign pledge he made as a core policy goal of his ninth-term administration: breaking ground on 310,000 housing units by 2031. As Oh continues to publicly criticize the central government's real estate policies, he is moving to seize the policy initiative through expanded housing supply via redevelopment. Oh has told Seoul Metropolitan Government staff to treat the ground-breaking target as a race against time, saying it "must be achieved within this term."
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Friday, Oh recently directed staff at an internal meeting to install a progress board in his office showing the completion rate and status of redevelopment projects, saying he would monitor them directly. The move signals a shift in focus: whereas the previous term concentrated on designating redevelopment zones, the new term will prioritize shortening project timelines.
Oh said public interest in the Rapid Integration Planning scheme had grown since the June 3 local elections, and called on staff to strengthen the capacity of the redevelopment progress-promotion meetings. The city's housing bureau has since begun follow-up work to accelerate the pace of redevelopment.
During his campaign, Oh pledged to introduce a "fast-track integration" approach that would maintain the existing Rapid Integration Planning framework while speeding up project delivery. The core of the plan is to skip the preparatory committee stage, process the project implementation plan and management and disposal plan simultaneously, and concentrate management on 85 zones — approximately 85,000 households — that are at the relocation and pre-construction stage, bringing forward the supply timeline.
Oh's ultimate goal is to break ground on 310,000 units by 2031, easing the supply shortage widely cited as a primary driver of rising home prices. Annual ground-breaking targets are: 23,000 units in 2026, 34,000 in 2027, 22,000 in 2028, 46,000 in 2029, 73,000 in 2030 and 112,000 in 2031. Given the sharp ramp-up in volume toward 2029–2031, the city plans to focus on sustaining project momentum over the long term.
The redevelopment progress-promotion meetings that the Seoul Metropolitan Government has been running since August last year are also expected to gain greater weight. The city is pursuing a plan for the second deputy mayor — who oversees disaster safety, housing and urban planning — to chair the meetings directly starting this month.
The city has held the progress-promotion meetings to shorten redevelopment timelines and strengthen project management. Each month, a director-level architecture planning official has served as the overall progress coordinator, while district-level redevelopment directors have participated as zone-level coordinators to manage schedules across individual redevelopment sites. Projects are reviewed in three stages based on their progress.
Alongside efforts to invigorate redevelopment as the backbone of housing supply, the city is also moving faster to identify youth-focused housing options. One official said there was broad consensus that "youth policies need to be developed, given that this election confirmed strong support among younger voters." The city is also expected to track the progress rate of youth housing projects on a weekly basis.
Oh plans to continue pressing the central government on the need to change its housing and real estate policies. He is expected to attend a Cabinet meeting in July to raise a range of redevelopment deregulation issues — including relocation loan rules — as well as instability in the rental market.
lucky@heraldcorp.com
