Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon strongly criticized President Lee Jae-myung's remarks regarding preparations for a plunge in house prices, asking, "Are you living in a world of your own, Mr. President?"

In a post uploaded to Facebook, Mayor Oh stated, "Seoul's apartment prices have risen for 90 consecutive weeks, and this year's growth rate is the highest since record-keeping began. Where on earth did you see signs of plunging house prices?"

Earlier today (November 3), President Lee remarked during a Cabinet meeting that "actual transaction prices in major regions are dropping to a surprising extent."

Following that, the President stated via social media, "If house prices drop sharply, countermeasures are already being devised, including the government purchasing them in large quantities for public rental housing use."

In response, Mayor Oh questioned, "Do you consider house prices to be under control simply because people are blocked from buying homes by tight loan restrictions? Are only the numbers you want to see catching your eye, while you fail to see jeonse (lump-sum housing deposits) and monthly rent prices soaring day after day?"

Mayor Oh continued, "Citizens are anxious day by day wondering when the jeonse price bomb will drop, yet I simply cannot understand what the President is looking at to be worrying about a house price plunge in the first place."

He went on to criticize, "Everyone is struggling to put out the fires right before their feet, but the President's stance is like someone rushing off alone to prepare for a flood."

Mayor Oh also refuted President Lee's mention of housing approval status.

He argued, "It seems you are once again shifting the blame for the decline in housing approvals since 2022 onto the Seoul Metropolitan Government. During former Mayor Park Won-soon's tenure, as many as 389 redevelopment zones were canceled, and opportunities to supply 430,000 homes disappeared."

He continued, "To revive that collapsed supply foundation, we have been working day and night to re-designate zones, improve project feasibility, and lead to permits and groundbreakings. Now that results are just beginning to show, you claim that housing approvals have normalized under this administration. This is beyond brazen; it is shameless distortion of facts."

Claiming that the government's "obsession with actual residency" has fueled a "triple-strong" trend where house prices, jeonse deposits, and monthly rent all surge together, Mayor Oh said, "If you have no intention of facing reality properly, you would be better off just staying still."

He urged, "If you wish to avoid remaining as the worst real estate failure administration, you would do well to reform your housing policy advisors even now."

(Photo: Yonhap News)