Four 'green belts' to released in four areas to supply 50,000 units

Park Sang-woo, Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Minister, speaks at a joint briefing on the lifting of the green belts at Seoul City Hall. Courtesy of Yonhap News

The government will release four green belts (development restricted areas) in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and Gyeonggi-do to create 6.89 million square meters (2.08 million pyeong) of new residential land. The project will include 50,000 units, including long-term rental housing for newlyweds, and will be the first to be sold in 2029. It is the first time in 12 years that the green belt has been lifted in Seoul since the Lee Myung-bak administration.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (MOLIT) announced four new housing sites on November 5 as a follow-up to the 8.8 housing supply plan. The new sites are 2.21 million square meters (20,000 units) in Seoripul District, Seocho-gu, Seoul; 1.99 million square meters (9,400 units) in the Knowledge Convergence Complex in Daegok Station Area, Goyang, Gyeonggi-do; 810,000 square meters (7,000 units) in Yonghyeon, Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi-do; and 1.87 million square meters (14,000 units) in Ojeon-wangok, Uiwang city, Gyeonggi-do. 96 percent of the total projects will be in greenbelt areas.

MOLIT explained that the candidate sites are “the areas that have been poorly developed or can be recklessly developed due to a flurry of restricted development zones, factories, warehouses, and so forth with low environmental conservation values. They are in need of systematic development.”

Seoul's Seoripul district is a long stretch of land between the Gyeongbu Expressway (Yangjae IC and Seonam IC), Bundang-Naegok Urban Expressway (Naegok IC), and Gangnam Ring Expressway. 98-99 percent of the total land is covered by the green belt, and currently, greenhouses, warehouses, and other facilities are built indiscriminately.

The Seoul Metropolitan City has decided to provide 11,000 units of long-term rental housing for newlyweds in this area. “Mirinaejip,” which means “My House in Advance,” is a long-term rental housing program for newlyweds who have been married for less than seven years or are planning to get married within six months, and newlyweds without children can live there for up to 10 years, and if they have one child, they can live there for up to 20 years. If you have two or more children, you can get the house at 80-90 percent of the market value at the end of 20 years. Except for the “Mirinaejip” site, the rest of the sites will be used for public rental housing, publicly distributed housing, and private housing.

MOLIT is considering building an additional station on the Shinbundang Line that runs through the area to improve transportation convenience, and is also planning to build a public transportation network that connects to the Metropolitan Area Express Railway (GTX, Great Train Express)-Line C.

The Goyang-daegok Station Area Knowledge Convergence Complex is a rail transportation hub where five lines meet, including GTX-A, Subway Line 3, Gyeongui-Jungang Line, Seohae Line, and Gyooe Line, but it has been considered an urgent place to build a complex transfer center and develop the surrounding area due to poor station accessibility.

Ojeon-wangok, Uiwang, is a transportation hub connected to the Gyeongsu-daero-Gwacheon Bongdam Expressway and is considered to have high potential for attracting industrial facilities.

The new housing site in Yonghyeon, Uijeongbu, which has not been developed for nearly 30 years even after the relocation of the U.S. military base, will be equipped with cultural, sports, and self-sufficient facilities that are lacking in the existing city center to increase connectivity with the surrounding city center.

The government plans to shorten the housing supply period as much as possible for the new sites, with the goal of designating the districts in the first half of 2026, selling the first units in 2029, and moving in by 2031.

Following the announcement of the 50,000 housing units, MOLIT will announce an additional 30,000 housing units in preferred locations in the first half of next year. However, the additional areas to be announced in the first half of next year will not include Seoul, MOLIT said.

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