Seoul Mayor Oh calls vanishing jeonse market a 'policy disaster'

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on Monday criticized President Lee Jae-myung's characterization of the sharp decline in jeonse listings as a "normalization process," calling it a view out of touch with conditions on the ground. Oh said the disappearance of the jeonse market is a "policy disaster" in which the housing ladder for ordinary people has collapsed, and vowed to meet the president as soon as possible to convey the true extent of distortions and misjudgments playing out in the real estate market.

In a post on his social media account Monday, Oh said President Lee had responded at his first-anniversary press conference to the recent sharp drop in jeonse listings and the rise in jeonse and monthly rent prices by calling them part of a "normalization process." "This is a view so disconnected from reality that it shows a complete lack of awareness of the suffering people are experiencing on the ground," Oh wrote.

He added that he could not help but worry that "the president is in the grip of a seriously mistaken belief, or that there are aides feeding him distorted information."

Oh said the disappearance of jeonse is "not a natural phenomenon driven by some broader trend of the times," but rather "the painful result of the government's misguided real estate policy — a scene from a 'policy disaster' in which the very foundation of housing stability for ordinary people is being shaken."

"The jeonse market does not move on demand alone," Oh said. "The jeonse shortage in Seoul is not the result of a shift in demand — it is because supply is contracting far more rapidly due to the government's heavy-handed regulation."

He argued that expanding the land transaction permit zone across all of Seoul, tightening owner-occupancy requirements, suppressing rental businesses through excessive lending restrictions, and sustained pressure on multi-home owners had not normalized the market. "The government has completely cut off the jeonse supply pipeline, leaving the remaining non-homeowners to fight desperately over a ridiculously small pool of listings," he said.

Oh challenged the notion that jeonse demand had simply converted into demand for home purchases. "Can anyone really say with a straight face — in front of Seoul households with no home of their own, scrambling amid vanishing jeonse listings and soaring prices at the very moment they need to move — that jeonse demand has shifted to buying demand?" he said.

Oh said he had spent the entire election period walking through every corner and alley of Seoul, listening to the desperate voices of young people. "I heard cries that life is too hard, that the housing ladder has disappeared and the dream of owning a home is gone," he said. "As mayor, I felt a heavy sense of responsibility."

He said the experience made him feel an even more urgent need to meet the president without delay and convey the true reality of the distortions and misjudgments unfolding in the real estate market. "I will fulfill my duty as mayor — delivering the voices from the ground — to restore the collapsed housing ladder and protect the quality of life of Seoul's 10 million residents," he said.