President Yoon announces to ease real estate regulations

President Yoon visits 33-year-old apartment President Yoon Seok-yeol visits a household in Baeksong Village Complex 5 in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi Province, on Tuesday and listens to a resident\'s explanation. The complex is the first to be completed in the first new city, and the apartment is 33 years old. Presidential Office Photojournalists

President Yoon Suk-yeol announced on January 10 that he would ease real estate regulations on a large scale, saying he would “completely loosen regulations on redevelopment and reconstruction." Yoon also added that he would “also completely change the regulations on owners of multiple homes," and that he would expand the lifting of heavy taxation. The government's emphasis on deregulation three months ahead of the general election is interpreted as an attempt to preempt the "public sentiment related to real estate.”

"We need to liberate the real estate issue from politics and ideology in terms of respecting free choices and make it work according to economic and market principles,” Yoon said in his remarks at a public forum held at Aramnuri in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Although he did not directly mention the previous governments, his remarks were read as a criticism of the way real estate policy has been distorted by politics and ideology.

Yoon's real estate policy stance is summarized as reducing various regulations and taxes and expanding development. Yoon emphasized this by saying, "We have already experienced the side effects of misguided regulations and the suffering of the people." Regarding the "first new towns," including Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, he promised, "I will make sure that reconstruction work can begin within my term.” Before attending the discussion, he visited Baeksong Village 5, the oldest apartment complex in Ilsan New Town, to inspect its dilapidated apartments.

He also reaffirmed his policy of lowering the tax burden on owners of multiple homes. "It was really wrong to impose punitive taxation to those who own more than two homes by regarding them as immoral people who raise house prices, and eventually the common people bear the brunt of the damage," adding, "I will abolish the heavy taxation so that ordinary people and tenants can benefit."

Yoon also emphasized the "market principle" of the real estate issue during the discussion with the citizens who attended. "The policy direction we are pursuing is 'I choose what to do with my house and my property rights,'" he said.

Regarding the issue of real estate taxes, Yoon said, "It's easy to think, 'We should tax people who have more property,' but that's actually killing the middle class and the common people."

There are concerns that Yoon directly raises the issue of deregulation of real estate, stimulating people’s expectation of real estate development. Many say that this is not irrelevant to the general election which is just three months away. It could be interpreted as part of the ruling party's election strategy to appeal to the public by relying on people’s expectation of real estate development. With Yoon's recent announcement that he will push for the abolition of the financial investment income tax, it is expected that the policy drive to attract public sentiment in the general election will continue.

Yoon Young-deok, floor spokesperson of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, criticized, "It is unscrupulous that the president, who is supposed to stabilize the real estate market, is pouring out populist policies with a superficial way of thinking to gain votes by boosting housing prices.”

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.