Real-time status tracking now available for project financing guarantee applications
The Korea Housing and Urban Guarantee Corporation has overhauled its guarantee review process to allow permit and project financing guarantee assessments to run simultaneously, while also enabling applicants to track review progress in real time.
The changes are part of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's rapid housing supply plan for stabilizing the jeonse and monthly rent and sales markets, announced Aug. 13. The overhaul aims to significantly cut the time housing developers spend obtaining guarantees and make it easier to monitor where their applications stand.
Under the previous system, a project financing guarantee review could not begin until all permits were in place, meaning the full process from application to approval typically took more than three months. The new arrangement is expected to shorten that timeline by about two months.
Through the new one-stop integrated review, a preliminary project financing guarantee assessment will run in parallel from the moment a permit application is filed. Once permits are granted, the full review and approval process can proceed immediately.
HUG will also provide a real-time status inquiry service through its website, allowing developers to log in to the online guarantee portal and check exactly which stage their application has reached.
HUG also revised its project financing guarantee and redevelopment project loan guarantee systems to help housing developers secure funding and advance their projects more smoothly.
The corporation updated the benchmark pre-sale price calculation used in project financing guarantee reviews to better reflect current conditions, incorporating recent increases in construction costs driven by rising materials prices so that project viability can be assessed more accurately.
When an older apartment complex is used as a comparable site, an age-based premium will now be applied to its actual transaction price to adjust the figure to a level comparable to a newly built apartment.
HUG also extended by one year, through the end of December 2027, a special provision that raises the guarantee ceiling for redevelopment project loan guarantees from 50 percent to 60 percent of total project costs. The corporation plans to continue supporting redevelopment and reconstruction projects so they can proceed on stable footing, while easing the financing burden on project operators.
Choi Jong-won, acting president of HUG, said the reforms would allow the corporation to actively support faster housing supply. "We will continue to listen to voices from the field to support housing developers, improve the convenience of using our guarantee services, and do our utmost to invigorate housing supply," Choi said.
Meanwhile, HUG began recruiting its first landlords for the jeonse safe trust program on Nov. 4.
hss@heraldcorp.com
