Mortgage "Open Run" Fiasco Forces Shift: Stricter Rules on Jeonse Loans

[Anchor]

Some loan policies are also changing. As even mortgage "open runs"—people rushing to secure loans early—led to growing complaints from genuine homebuyers, the government doubled this year's total loan volume target. However, to curb speculative demand, new regulations on jeonse (lump-sum housing deposit) loans have been introduced for single-home owners who do not reside in their properties.

This is a report by Park Jae-yeon.

[Reporter]

The government has decided to relax its target for limiting household loan growth from 1.5% compared to last year up to 3%.

This will create additional lending capacity of about 4 trillion won for the five major commercial banks and roughly 30 trillion won across the entire financial sector.

As a result, apartment interim payment loans and balance payment loans, which were difficult to process under the previous limits, are expected to become more accessible.

This decision accommodates the demands of homeowners who had already purchased apartments expecting to secure loans before regulations tightened.

[Lee Eok-won / Chairman of the Financial Services Commission: We will rationally adjust the total volume targets so that linked loans arising from new housing supplies, such as relocation and balance payment loans, can ensure smooth transitions between sales and move-ins....]

However, loans flowing into existing apartments will be tightened further.

A representative measure is the decision to block jeonse loans for single-home owners who do not reside in their homes, whom the government has classified as having speculative tendencies.

This means jeonse loans will be restricted for homeowners who own a house in a regulated metropolitan area but have never actually lived in it.

The government stated that it does not currently have an exact count of the number of non-resident single-home owners or the scale of loans that will be subject to this new regulation.

While it explained that banks can independently evaluate and issue loans in unavoidable circumstances, how these rules will actually be applied in the field remains to be seen.

Additionally, the jeonse loan guarantee ratio for the metropolitan area and regulated zones, currently set at 80%, has been lowered to 70%.

A lower guarantee ratio could make jeonse loan screenings relatively stricter or reduce loan limits.

With tax revisions increasing incentives for actual residency, there are widespread concerns that jeonse supply will decrease. Some forecast that the combination of these jeonse loan regulations could further destabilize the rental housing market.

(Video reporting: Cho Choon-dong, Video editing: So Ji-hye, Design: Lee Jun-ho)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.