Oh Se-hoon says Lee government's real estate policy is 'fast-forward version' of Moon-era failures

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on Thursday called on the Lee Jae-myung government to reverse its real estate policy, saying it "eerily mirrors the history of failed policies under the Moon Jae-in administration."

Writing on his Facebook page that day, Oh said the current administration was compressing into a single year the same regulatory failures that took five years to play out under Moon. "Is it any wonder citizens are lamenting that this looks like a fast-forward version of the Moon administration's real estate failures?" he said.

Oh cited a social media post noting that Seoul apartment prices had risen 14.73 percent in the first year of the Lee government — surpassing the first-year gains recorded under both the Roh Moo-hyun administration (11.68 percent) and the Moon administration (9.41 percent). "This is the cruel reality that 10 million Seoul residents feel every day, and the true source of the residential crisis," he said. He added that the real estate market stabilizes only through predictable supply policy, not slogans or ideology, and that what Seoul residents want is not another real estate war but practical measures — freeing up jeonse listings and expanding supply through reconstruction and redevelopment.

Oh also took aim at President Lee's recent self-assessment. "Not long ago, the president said he had 'done a reasonably good job' of holding back upward pressure on real estate prices and described the current situation as a 'normalization process,'" Oh said. "But the market has already shown its answer."

He said listings were shrinking, jeonse properties were disappearing and wolse rents were soaring. "The harder the government presses by labeling multi-home owners as the enemy, the more landlords choose to hold on rather than put their properties on the market," he said, adding that the government itself had acknowledged concerns about a listing freeze while still considering further regulation.

Oh repeated his call for a policy shift, saying the market could only be stabilized through predictable supply measures. "What Seoul residents want is not another real estate war, but realistic policies that bring jeonse listings back to the market and expand supply by normalizing reconstruction and redevelopment," he said.

"The warning lights have long been on," he said, urging the government to change course. "Are you really going to go all the way down the road of a foreseeable real estate disaster? It is time to turn toward the realistic path of supply expansion and market normalization."