As the government reviews support measures for genuine homebuyers struggling to secure mortgage balance loans due to lending regulations, controversy is growing over fairness as the support is likely to be limited to new apartment complexes scheduled for occupancy.

The Financial Services Commission is reviewing a plan to exempt certain balance loans from the banks' aggregate household loan management targets, aiming to reduce cases where balance loans are blocked for new apartments nearing occupancy due to the total household debt cap.

The recipients are widely expected to be limited to new apartments that were put up for sale before the regulations took effect and are now awaiting move-in.

Maegyoyeok Pellucid in Suwon, where a resident appealed the balance loan issue at a real estate policy debate presided over by the president last month, is also a complex that was put up for sale in December 2023, with contracts signed before the lending regulations were implemented.

Financial authorities recently summoned the five major commercial banks and requested cooperation to ensure that mortgage balance loans for genuine homebuyers of new apartments are executed without disruption.

In response, Shinhan Bank has additionally allocated 100 billion won in loan limits to Maegyoyeok Pellucid, and KB Kookmin Bank is also pushing to expand its limit from the existing 50 billion won to up to 100 billion won.

Other banks are also considering additional support of a similar scale.

An official from the financial authorities explained, "Balance funds must be supplied to ensure smooth move-ins into new apartments and steady housing supply."

However, critics point out that applying this measure exclusively to new apartments while excluding buyers of existing homes goes against fairness.

Complaints are mounting on the ground as buyers who purchased homes for the same purpose of actual residence and planned their finances in line with existing regulations suddenly find their loans blocked, yet remain likely to be excluded from the support measures.

Some contract holders are reportedly facing situations where blocked balance loans force them to forfeit their down payments, or are turning to mutual finance companies and secondary financial institutions for loans.

The authorities are reportedly not considering easing the Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio, out of concern that easing LTV amid a housing supply shortage could reignite housing prices.

After further gathering opinions from the banking sector, the financial authorities plan to announce detailed support measures as early as mid-this month.

Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Seo Byeong-wook | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News