Daegu will expand its integrated review system for construction, housing and redevelopment project permits as part of efforts to normalize the local housing market.
According to the city, it has established operational guidelines for an integrated review committee that will take effect Sunday.
The measure is one of the short-term steps announced at the sixth emergency economic policy meeting held Oct. 1 as part of a plan to normalize the housing market.
The number of unsold units in Daegu stood at 4,162 as of the end of August, a figure that has been declining, but the volume of move-in ready units is expected to drop sharply — from 10,752 this year to 2,846 in 2027.
The city said delays in permit approvals could create a future gap in housing supply, and that streamlining administrative procedures is intended to secure the supply base.
Under the previous system, housing construction projects had to go through separate committee reviews covering areas such as architecture, landscape and traffic, a process that could take anywhere from 20 to more than 90 days. Conflicting review opinions sometimes led to repeated design revisions and re-reviews.
In response, Daegu has bundled three short-term measures — lifting approval holds, expanding integrated reviews and improving sunlight review standards for apartment buildings — and is rolling them out in sequence, with the integrated review expansion set to begin in full Sunday.
Going forward, relevant committees will convene together to conduct a single joint review and coordinate opinions across all areas.
Under the revised Housing Act, the scope of integrated reviews for housing construction projects has been expanded from five areas to eight, adding education, fire safety and disaster risk.
The city plans to apply integrated reviews across three areas for general buildings, eight for housing construction projects, and nine for redevelopment and reconstruction projects.
The city will also shorten permit procedures for redevelopment and reconstruction projects. Previously, when a revision to a redevelopment plan was required, a separate Urban Planning Committee review and change notice had to be completed before an integrated review of the project implementation plan could proceed. Daegu will now use a special provision under Article 50-3 of the Act on the Maintenance and Improvement of Urban Areas and Dwelling Conditions to allow the revised redevelopment plan and the project implementation plan to be reviewed simultaneously.
The city expects the change to reduce project delays and ease the financial burden on association members.
Daegu also plans to establish what it calls a plan-review linkage system, under which the city will assess the appropriateness of zone boundaries and infrastructure installation before a redevelopment plan is formally drafted. The aim is to strengthen administrative support from the earliest stages of planning and shorten the overall project timeline.
The city is also pushing to increase participation by local construction companies. It currently offers floor-area-ratio incentives of up to 43 percentage points based on the share of local firms involved, along with preferential floor-area-ratio treatment.
Daegu plans to actively promote related programs from the pre-feasibility review stage through resident briefings, steering committee formation and association establishment, and will encourage local subcontractors to account for at least 70 percent of project participation.
Alongside the integrated review expansion, the city will lift a moratorium on approvals for new housing construction projects that has been in place since January 2023, and will unify the sunlight review standards for apartment buildings — which had previously differed between redevelopment projects and housing construction projects — under a single architectural committee standard.
Over the medium to long term, the city aims to expand the stable housing supply base through revitalization of redevelopment projects and the renewal of aging planned cities.
"The pace of housing supply is determined at the permitting stage. Every day spent waiting for a permit is a cost — for developers and for residents who need homes," Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho said. "We will eliminate unnecessary waiting time through integrated reviews and monitor actual processing times after implementation to deliver a pace that citizens can feel."
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