Land ministry to gain direct power to designate land transaction permit zones as housing bills clear Assembly

The minister of land, infrastructure and transport will gain the authority to directly designate land transaction permit zones within a single city or province when speculative real estate activity spreads rapidly in a given area.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Thursday that six bills — including an amendment to the Act on Real Estate Transaction Reporting — cleared the National Assembly floor vote. The legislation follows up on the government's Sept. 7 housing supply package announced last year.

Under the current system, the authority to designate parts of a city or province as land transaction permit zones rests with the relevant local governor. The land minister could only make such designations within the same city or province in cases tied to public development projects.

The amendment expands that authority, allowing the land minister to designate land transaction permit zones within a single city or province when speculative activity is a concern. The minister must first consult with the relevant local governor before making a designation. The amended law takes effect three months after promulgation, following revisions to subordinate regulations.

The ministry had previously exercised direct designation authority under the Oct. 15 measures last year, when it grouped all of Seoul and 12 areas in Gyeonggi Province into a single land transaction permit zone. That designation was possible because the zone spanned two administrative units — Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. The new amendment allows the minister to directly designate areas of concern within a single city or province as well.

A bill establishing a legal framework for the mixed redevelopment of aging public buildings — enabling the combined supply of public housing and everyday amenity facilities in urban areas — also passed the floor vote.

The legislation sets out a system for drawing up and reviewing mixed development project plans, resolving disagreements among relevant agencies, and streamlining permit procedures. It also includes provisions relaxing building coverage and floor area ratios, and establishes a basis for fiscal support.

A separate bill creating a framework for the mixed development of unused school sites — land originally designated for schools that were never built, as well as closed school grounds — also passed, allowing such sites to be used for housing supply.

The law requires a review process involving local governments, education offices and outside experts in selecting candidate sites, and allows for various special exceptions to improve project viability.

The sunset deadline for urban public housing mixed projects was also extended. The program — under which public entities develop transit-oriented areas and low-rise residential neighborhoods where private redevelopment has stalled — will now run through the end of 2029, a three-year extension from the original year-end deadline.

An amendment to the Special Act on Public Housing introduces a "restructuring" procedure that transfers to the ministry the authority to change the designated use of non-residential public development land that has sat idle for an extended period, allowing it to be quickly converted to public housing use through consultations with relevant agencies.

The package also includes a provision to establish a dedicated consultative body to quickly resolve disagreements among agencies during the planning process for public housing districts.

Also clearing the Assembly was a bill establishing a systematic framework for managing vacant buildings — including unoccupied homes, unused non-residential structures, and buildings left abandoned due to halted construction — and for promoting their demolition or reuse.

An amendment to the Housing Act was also passed, easing the land ownership requirements that community housing associations must meet to apply for project plan approval, and relaxing unit-count restrictions on urban-type residential housing.