PPP floor leader calls youth homeownership rate 'worst in history,' lashes out at Lee government's real estate policy

People Power Party floor leader Jang Dong-hyeok on Monday criticized the Lee Jae-myung government's real estate policy, saying it had already surpassed the record of "the worst five years under the Moon Jae-in administration" and that young people and ordinary citizens were bearing the greatest cost.

Speaking at a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly, Jang said the homeownership rate among young residents had fallen to 27.7 percent — the lowest in history — down 13 percentage points from 2019, while the share of monthly rent arrangements had exceeded 54 percent. "Monthly rents for villas and officetels have also skyrocketed," he said.

Jang then lashed out at the administration, saying it had failed to produce any remedies and that the president himself had admitted as much. "The end of real estate autocracy is real estate hell, and the end of real estate hell will be the hell of this administration," he said.

He also accused the government of steering South Korea's real estate sector toward an authoritarian model, pushing through policies regardless of public opinion, expert warnings or opposition objections. "Even at last week's forum, the president simply said whatever he wanted — it was nothing more than a free-for-all of empty words," Jang said.

Turning to allegations of vote-tally manipulation at the National Election Commission, Jang said the NEC had long insisted that tampering with its computer systems was impossible, yet it had now been revealed that such manipulation could be carried out freely without any oversight. He added that a court had rejected a warrant to seize messenger records — key evidence in the case — "for reasons that defy understanding."

Jang called for a special prosecutor to be launched as quickly as possible to accelerate the investigation. He said he planned to appear in person Monday afternoon to make oral arguments at an NEC election petition hearing.