Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon. [Provided by Seoul Metropolitan Government]
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon. [Provided by Seoul Metropolitan Government]

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said Thursday that for the government's newly announced real estate measures to take effect, a broader rethink of housing policy is needed — including a reconsideration of the tax reform package announced Aug. 3.

Oh made the remarks in a Facebook post Thursday, writing that policies "excessively fixated on owner-occupancy" were in effect restricting citizens' freedom of residence and that such a situation "must not be allowed to continue."

"In reality, people's circumstances vary widely, and it is no easy task to enumerate and adjudicate every exception to owner-occupancy requirements," Oh wrote. "Piling on exception clauses every time a problem arises is a patchwork remedy that only deepens market confusion." He called a full review of "owner-occupancy-obsessed policy" the first step toward resolving instability in the lease market and the crisis in jeonse and monthly rent. He urged the government to use the new measures as an opportunity to shift the policy focus "more clearly from taxes and owner-occupancy to sufficient and sustained supply expansion."

Oh added that while greenbelt release is within the government's authority, "my view that damage to green space must be a last resort has not changed." He stressed that if reconstruction and redevelopment projects already planned by Seoul proceed on schedule, 310,000 housing units can be supplied by 2031. "Even as effective means of increasing housing supply are right before us, we must be cautious about an approach that damages precious green space we must pass on to future generations," he wrote, urging the government to "approach this carefully with full consideration of these points."

Oh said he was nonetheless relieved that the government's real estate package announced Thursday reflected "some of the requests Seoul has consistently made to the government for the smooth advancement of redevelopment and reconstruction projects," and pledged that the city would "concentrate all administrative capacity" to ensure its ongoing projects and housing supply plans proceed without delay and at greater speed. At the same time, he expressed deep regret that Seoul had not been sufficiently consulted before the measures were drawn up and announced. "It is not desirable for Seoul — which actually carries out a significant portion of housing supply and redevelopment work on the ground — to be in effect excluded from the policy decision-making process and simply handed the results unilaterally," he wrote.

Oh noted that while some of Seoul's proposed regulatory improvements for redevelopment projects were included in the package, key demands from the field were left out — among them easing restrictions on the transfer of association member status, relaxing floor-area-ratio regulations for private redevelopment projects, and lowering the mandatory ratio of rental housing in redevelopment schemes. "This measure may give redevelopment sites some breathing room, but the difficulties on the ground cannot be fully resolved," he said. He called for deregulation that goes beyond token gestures, saying bold regulatory improvements capable of genuinely boosting project viability and shortening timelines must follow. "I hope the remaining regulatory improvement proposals Seoul has put forward for redevelopment projects will also be accepted without delay," he added.


cook@heraldcorp.com