Over 2,200 LH rental units vacant for more than 6 months, up 77% in 2 years

More than 2,000 rental housing units purchased by the Korea Land and Housing Corporation have gone without a single lease contract for over six months, even as the government pushes to expand its newly built purchase-rental housing supply.

According to data LH submitted Tuesday to the office of Rep. Bu Seung-chan of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Land and Transportation Committee, the number of units with no contract history vacant for six months or more grew from 1,262 in 2024 to 1,651 last year and to 2,234 as of August. This year alone, the figure has already risen by 583 units, or 35 percent, compared with the end of last year. Compared with 2024, the increase stands at 972 units, or 77 percent.

Over the same period, the total number of purchase-rental units managed by LH grew 13 percent, from 181,938 to 206,179. The rate at which long-vacant units with no contract history are accumulating is roughly 5.8 times the growth rate of the overall managed inventory.

New housing ground-breakings are also falling short of targets. The government's housing supply expansion plan, announced last year, set a goal of breaking ground on 70,000 newly built purchase-rental units in the Greater Seoul area between 2026 and 2027. LH data show that of the 44,359 units targeted for ground-breaking this year, only 10,044 had broken ground as of Aug. 11 — just 22 percent of the target.

"The government is expanding the purchase-rental supply, but new ground-breakings are slow and the number of long-vacant units among already secured housing is growing," Bu said. He called on the government to move away from waiting for sellers to apply and instead actively identify and purchase housing in areas where it is needed, taking into account the lifestyle needs and transportation access of target residents such as youth and newlyweds.