"Contract at Risk Due to Loan Restrictions"... Complaints Flood Online

[Anchor]

As obtaining loans becomes increasingly difficult, many are saying that owning a home is becoming a distant dream. Ahead of the public debate on real estate, which President Lee Jae-myung will attend tomorrow, July 23, a flood of opinions demanding deregulation has been pouring in online.

Morning Zoom-in, this is reporter Lee Seong-hoon.

[Reporter]

A 30-something office worker surnamed Lim is preparing to purchase their first home while maintaining their status as a non-homeowner.

To buy an apartment in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, for 790 million won, Lim paid a 30 million won deposit and even received approval for a land transaction. However, Lim is now deeply concerned about loan issues.

Amid the government's stance on strengthening household debt management, some banks have restricted new loans or reduced loan limits this month, leaving Lim worried about potential setbacks in securing the balance for the purchase.

[Lim / Prospective first-time homebuyer: In this situation, it feels very unstable and scary to continue with this (contract). As a genuine buyer and someone trying to purchase a home for the first time, I feel very frustrated.]

Lim also posted these frustrations directly on the government's website for collecting public opinion on real estate policy.

Lim is not the only one facing similar concerns.

More than 3,600 opinions have been submitted to the website in just one week, with financial-related feedback being the most frequent at over 1,500 entries.

The majority of these opinions demanded deregulation, such as "expanding financial support for first-time homebuyers" and "applying differentiated loan regulations for the metropolitan area versus provincial regions."

[Kwon Dae-jung / Chair Professor, Department of Real Estate and Economics, Hansung University: For those who do not own a home, loan regulations should be sufficiently eased to allow them to purchase their own homes. Another factor is relocation demand. For genuine buyers, loan regulations should be eased...]

In addition, there have been demands related to taxes and supply, such as "granting tax exceptions for non-resident single-home owners" or easing redevelopment regulations.

Based on the public opinions submitted online, the government plans to hold a public debate on real estate tomorrow, which will be attended by President Lee Jae-myung.

(Video reporting: Seol Chi-hwan, Video editing: Park Na-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.