Oh Se-hoon wins fifth term, vows to expand youth homeownership housing to 30,000 units

With Oh Se-hoon of the People Power Party winning a fifth term as Seoul mayor, the city is set to expand affordable housing programs aimed exclusively at young residents, offering units priced below market rates. Having campaigned on homeownership — not rental — as the answer to soaring real estate barriers, Oh is expected to draw strong support from young, non-homeowning Seoulites.

According to Oh's campaign pledges, the city plans to increase the supply of publicly owned, ownership-type housing, including installment-based pre-sale units and equity-share homes. A new model announced two weeks before the election — Baro Naejip, targeting 8,000 units — is an equity-share arrangement in which the Seoul Housing and Communities Corp. (SH) and a young, non-homeowning buyer jointly purchase a property. For homes priced at 1.2 billion won (about $785,000) or less, the buyer can become an owner by putting down just 20 percent of the purchase price. A Seoul Metropolitan Government official said the city would soon review the implementation approach with SH, including whether legislation needs to be amended.

The existing Miri Naejip program — a long-term jeonse arrangement with an option to convert to ownership — will be expanded by 20,000 units. Baro Naejip, under which buyers pay only a down payment upfront and settle the balance in installments over 20 years, is targeting 600 units, with the first round of applicants to be recruited before the end of the year.

The push targets strong demand among young people for homeownership. A 2024 Seoul residential conditions survey found that about 90 percent of non-homeowning young and newlywed households in the city felt they needed to buy a home to live in. Yet the number of non-homeowning households headed by people under 40 in Seoul has consistently grown, approaching 1 million — a sign of acute housing distress. Oh has long focused on housing policy and has consistently put forward programs for young people who aspire to own a home.

One real estate expert said the city would likely use higher-density, high-rise development incentives to secure supply, boost the viability of redevelopment projects and channel public housing to young residents — "killing two birds with one stone." The expert added that the wider range of options for young buyers was meaningful in its own right.

Experts advise young people to use the programs while building a housing strategy suited to their life stage. Park Ji-min, head of the Wolyong Apartment Subscription Research Institute, said supply volumes for young buyers would grow but could be limited to just a few dozen units per complex. "If your goal is to own a home in the short term, the most realistic approach is to target large-scale supply sites such as the third-generation new towns," Park said. For those aiming to settle in Seoul over the long term, he added, a more deliberate strategy — such as living in a Greater Seoul rental unit first and then moving into Seoul when new supply becomes available — was also worth considering.