"60,000 Homes to Be Supplied": 5 Months Later, Where Do We Stand?

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The real estate market in the Seoul metropolitan area, which seemed to be cooling down, is showing signs of heating up again. Many are calling for tangible supply measures to be realized as quickly as possible.

Reporter Lee Seonghun checked the sites to see if the government's promised plan to "supply 60,000 homes in the metropolitan area" is proceeding as intended.

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This is the Yongsan International Business District, considered a key project site for the metropolitan supply plan.

The government's vision is to introduce not only international business and commercial functions but also a large number of residential units to the 450,000-square-meter site of the former railway maintenance depot near Yongsan Station.

The government is pushing to supply 10,000 homes on this site.

On the other hand, the Seoul Metropolitan Government maintains that a scale of up to 8,000 units is appropriate, leading to continued disagreements over the supply volume.

More than four months have passed since the announcement of the plan to begin construction in 2028, but even the number of units to be built has not been finalized.

As a result, people on the ground say it is difficult to feel any changes.

[Jeong Seong-tae / Real Estate Agent in Yongsan-gu, Seoul: As the start of construction is delayed, won't local governments or the administration change? Policies could also change. I think it is important to proceed quickly.]

Next is the Taereung Golf Course, the site with the second-largest supply scale in Seoul.

The plan is to supply 6,800 homes with the goal of starting construction in 2030.

[Jo Myeong-dong / Resident of Nowon-gu, Seoul: (The golf course) was maintained for vested interests, so I think it should be removed, and it would be good to build apartments there. If it's for the sake of young people's housing and rental apartments, and for the citizens of Seoul, it would be good to have them come in.]

However, hurdles such as the World Heritage Impact Assessment remain, and there is no shortage of residents who oppose the plan.

[Resident of Nowon-gu, Seoul: If apartments are built here, the traffic will be no joke. It is extremely congested. It is indescribably busy during rush hours, and that is not to mention the weekends.]

I visited another key project site, Gwacheon.

The government is pushing to supply 9,800 homes here, contingent on the relocation of the Seoul Racecourse Park and the Defense Security Command.

However, opposition from the Gwacheon city government and some citizens remains strong, and significant friction is expected.

The opposition party mayor, who made a campaign promise that the Racecourse Park would not be relocated, has succeeded in his re-election.

[Real Estate Agent in Gwacheon: 10,000 units are already coming in with the 3rd new town project, so if another 10,000 units are added there, what will happen to the traffic problem? So I think it will take quite a long time.]

While the government can legally push for public housing projects, securing access roads and expanding sewage treatment facilities require consultation with local governments.

Currently, a significant number of project sites remain in the stage of licensing or consultation with local governments.

[Ko Jong-wan / Director of the Korea Asset Management Institute: To increase the speed of housing supply, it is necessary to exclude political interests and operate a regular policy consultative body between the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and local governments to monitor the government's supply measures.]

President Lee Jae-myung recently stated in a press conference that he would soon announce real estate tax, financial, and supply measures together. Attention is focused on whether supplementary measures will be presented to increase the feasibility of existing supply plans.

Reported by Lee Seonghun | Video by Lee Sang-min | VJ by Jeong Han-wook
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.