President Lee Jae-myung Places 1.77 Billion Won Mortgage on Apartment Sold for 2.9 Billion Won: Why?

[Anchor]

President Lee Jae-myung and his wife sold their apartment in Bundang, Gyeonggi-do, for 2.9 billion won on the 14th. However, it has been revealed that the presidential couple set a mortgage of 1.77 billion won on the buyer, drawing attention to the background of this arrangement.

Reporter Kang Cheongwan has the story.

[Reporter]

The apartment in Sunae-dong, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, which had a floor area of 164 square meters, was jointly owned by President Lee Jae-myung and his wife, Kim Hye-kyung.

The sale was completed on the 14th for 2.9 billion won.

According to the property registry,

The buyers are individuals surnamed Kim and Jo.

A mortgage of 1.77 billion won has been registered on the apartment since the 16th.

The mortgagees are President Lee and his wife, who sold the house, while the debtors are the buyers, Kim and Jo.

It appears that President Lee and his wife transferred the legal ownership of the property to the buyers while holding the house as collateral, agreeing to receive 1.77 billion won of the 2.9 billion won sale price at a later date.

The Blue House explained that the details on the registry, such as the mortgage, were due to the buyer's circumstances. It is understood that because the buyers have not yet sold their current home and could not secure the full balance, President Lee and his wife set the mortgage under the condition that the remaining balance be paid by the end of October.

This method of selling a house while the seller provides a mortgage is sometimes used when the threshold for bank loans for the buyer is high.

Currently, under the government's real estate loan regulations, mortgage loans for homes exceeding 2.5 billion won are capped at a maximum of 200 million won.

It was also reported that the transaction was expedited through this mortgage because if the registration was delayed, the buyers might not have been able to inherit the status of a reconstruction union member, as the apartment previously owned by President Lee and his wife is scheduled to be officially designated for a reconstruction project later this month.

The People Power Party criticized the move, calling it a loophole transaction that avoids loan regulations when selling one's own home while restricting loans for ordinary citizens, asking, "Is it speculation when the public does it, but a normal transaction when the President does it?"

(Reported by Jeong Sang-bo, Kim Se-kyung, Ha Ryung | Video by Yoo Mi-ra | Graphics by Lee Jong-jeong)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.