Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon criticized that the president's bias toward redevelopment and reconstruction was revealed during the Real Estate Grand Debate hosted by President Lee Jae-myung.

Mayor Oh posted on Facebook today (the 24th) with the title, "If You Take an Exam with the Answers Hidden, the Result is a Failing Grade," evaluating yesterday's debate in such terms.

Mayor Oh pointed out, "It was a bitter occasion that reaffirmed the president's deeply rooted bias and distorted perception regarding redevelopment and reconstruction. While complaining that it is almost impossible to find land for housing site development in Seoul, the president remarked that reconstruction increases unit sizes and thus has a limited supply effect, while redevelopment actually reduces the total number of households moving in."

He went on to criticize, "Acknowledging the reality that there is no more land to build houses in Seoul, yet denying the supply effect of redevelopment and reconstruction, which are practically the only large-scale supply methods, is the height of contradiction."

Mayor Oh explained that the president's remarks differed from the facts, stating, "For urban maintenance projects aimed at breaking ground on more than 310,000 units by 2031, which the Seoul Metropolitan Government is promoting, a net increase of approximately 87,000 units is expected. Compared to the 32,000 unit net increase in Seoul from the government's January 29 measures, this is about 2.7 times greater."

He added, "Reconstruction yields a net increase of about 40% in housing on average, and redevelopment is also producing a supply increase effect of about 15% on average as the Seoul Metropolitan Government actively promotes the upgrading of zoning districts and relaxation of floor area ratios."

Mayor Oh also noted, "As the president mentioned, there may be cases in redevelopment projects in some multi-family housing dense areas where the number of supplied housing units decreases somewhat depending on how existing households are calculated. However, this is limited to certain projects, and citing this as if it were a general phenomenon for all redevelopment is misleading the facts."

Mayor Oh particularly argued, "What is more concerning than the time the president has is the fact that whenever such perceptions are publicly exposed, they send the wrong signals to the market, because citizens interpret it as 'supply through maintenance projects will become difficult under this administration.'"

Mayor Oh emphasized, "The president acknowledging the supply effect of maintenance projects is the only way to solve the problem. If the answers are hidden and only tax increase policies, which were proven to be wrong answers in the past administration, are repeated, the result will inevitably be another failing grade."

Having attended a cabinet meeting on the 14th to deliver a real estate-related report to the government, Mayor Oh added, "We plan to submit a detailed report regarding maintenance projects to the Blue House soon."