Seoul Mayor Oh to press Lee government on real estate policy at cabinet meeting

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon plans to attend a cabinet meeting shortly after the start of his new term and deliver his views directly on real estate and housing policy. Oh has decided to press the government for a fundamental shift in its real estate policy stance, focusing on deregulation of redevelopment and reconstruction projects and instability in the lease market. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said it has already begun making "thorough preparations" toward that end.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Oh is preparing to attend the July cabinet meeting and call on the government to change course on real estate policy. City officials noted that if Oh attends, it would mark his first official in-person appearance at such a session in roughly 11 months, since a national governors' meeting on Aug. 1 last year.

Under cabinet meeting regulations, the Seoul mayor is the only local government head with the right to attend. Oh has attended the cabinet twice since the Lee Jae-myung administration took office.

With cabinet meetings broadcast live, the session is expected to serve as a high-profile stage for Oh to draw a sharp contrast with the Lee administration's policy positions. Although the meeting is about a month away, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has already begun drafting his remarks.

"We are preparing his remarks around the three core real estate policies he put forward as a candidate," a Seoul city official said, adding that Oh would <style ref="s1">"convey the worsening jeonse and monthly rent crisis and focus heavily on the need for a policy shift to stabilize the lease market."</style>

During the June 3 local elections, Oh ran on a "Five Orders from Seoul Citizens — Three Public, Two Private" platform that included three real estate campaign pledges: normalizing redevelopment and reconstruction projects by lifting relocation loan restrictions and restrictions on the transfer of union membership status; boosting private rental housing supply to ease the jeonse and monthly rent crisis; and establishing safeguards against real estate tax shocks.

In line with those pledges, <style ref="s0">Oh is expected to call on the government to ease the stringent loan regulations and owner-occupancy requirements it has pursued through its June 27 and Oct. 15 policy packages.</style> He also plans to cite specific cases of project delays at major redevelopment and reconstruction sites in Seoul.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has repeatedly urged the central government to ease relocation loan restrictions as concerns over project delays grew. It has also been pursuing a plan to raise the relocation loan ceiling from the current 300 million won (about $198,000) to 500 million won and extend eligibility to all reconstruction and redevelopment associations.

Oh's remarks on the lease market are expected to be particularly pointed. After President Lee said at a press conference marking his first year in office on June 8 that the decline in jeonse was "a normalization process," Oh criticized the assessment as "a detached view that shows a complete lack of understanding of the pain people are experiencing on the ground." He added that "the jeonse crisis in Seoul is not the result of a shift in demand — it is because supply is falling far more rapidly due to the government's heavy-handed regulations."

Oh is also arranging a roundtable with real estate experts. He is expected to gather field perspectives on redevelopment, reconstruction and the lease market from those specialists to bolster the policy basis for his cabinet remarks.

[단독] 與, 국토장관이 ‘정비구역도 지정’ 법안에 국토부는 반대 의견

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