Jeon Hyun-hee proposes bill to expand land-lease housing, says Gangnam units could sell for W300m

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Jeon Hyun-hee is pushing to amend the law to allow state financial support for "land-lease housing" — a model in which the public retains ownership of land while only the buildings are sold to buyers. If land costs are excluded from pre-sale prices, Jeon said, "it is entirely possible to offer apartments in the approximately 99-square-meter range in Gangnam for around 300 million won ($217,000)."

Jeon announced Monday at a press conference at the National Assembly's communication hall that she had filed the amendment to the Housing and Urban Fund Act as its lead sponsor.

Under the land-lease housing model, the public retains ownership of the land while only the building is sold. Unlike conventional pre-sale housing, the land cost is excluded from the pre-sale price, reducing the upfront burden on buyers. In return, residents pay a land lease fee to the public entity.

The core of the amendment is to establish a legal basis for using the Housing and Urban Fund to finance land-lease housing supply. It addresses the limitations of the existing arrangement, under which public institutions and local governments must bear the full cost of both land acquisition and construction.

"How many homes we supply matters, but we now need to think about how to supply homes that people can actually afford," Jeon said. "We need to build a virtuous cycle in residential policy — the public provides the land, the state supports it through the Housing and Urban Fund, and public institutions build the housing."

Jeon said expanding land-lease housing could sharply lower pre-sale prices even in Gangnam. "If this model operates properly, it is entirely possible to pre-sell apartments in the approximately 99-square-meter range in Gangnam for around 300 million won," she said. "Land-lease housing must develop from a policy for specific areas into a national residential policy for all of South Korea."

Jeon also proposed expanding a youth public rental housing program in transit-oriented areas and on public land, and outlined plans to increase public housing supply through reconstruction of aging public housing and greater public contributions during redevelopment and reconstruction projects.

"Rather than selling public land once and being done with it, we need a structure that protects public land while supplying housing and channels that public value back into housing stability for the people," she said. "Separating land and building ownership and expanding land-lease housing is what I consider basic housing."

Jeon had previously put forward land-lease housing supply and the youth public rental housing program as housing campaign pledges during the Democratic Party's Seoul mayoral primary election.