Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, a persistent critic of the Lee Jae Myung administration's real estate policies, met with Land Minister Kim Yun-deok on Friday to discuss ways to expand housing supply. The two sides failed to reach a concrete agreement, however, on the contentious question of supplying 10,000 housing units in the Yongsan International Business District.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Oh and Kim held a closed-door meeting Friday and exchanged views on the overall state of the housing market and real estate policy, including measures to boost housing supply.
The meeting came as a so-called "triple rally" — simultaneous rises in home sale prices, jeonse and monthly rent — has persisted in recent months. The government held a public forum on real estate policy Thursday, chaired by President Lee Jae Myung, as part of efforts to gather input for additional measures.
Oh attended a Cabinet meeting on July 14 and has been actively voicing his views on government real estate policy. He has argued that measures focused solely on curbing demand, tightening loan regulations and raising taxes have limited effectiveness in stabilizing the market, and that expanding supply through the revitalization of private-sector redevelopment and reconstruction projects is necessary.
The scale of housing supply for the Yongsan International Business District — a point of disagreement between the government and Seoul city hall — was also discussed at Friday's meeting, according to people familiar with the talks.
The district was originally planned to provide about 6,000 housing units, but the government announced through its Jan. 29 real estate supply measures this year that it would expand the figure to 10,000 units.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has maintained that increasing the number of units to 10,000 would undermine the district's originally planned function as a global business hub and could delay the project due to additional administrative procedures, arguing that a maximum of around 8,000 units is realistic.
Some reports emerged Friday suggesting that Oh had conveyed to Kim a willingness to conditionally consider the 10,000-unit supply plan, but both the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport denied this.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said "nothing has been specifically decided or agreed upon regarding the Yongsan International Business District," while a ministry official said consultations "have not been completed and related matters are still under discussion."
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