14th Urban Planning Committee reviews candidates in Mapo-gu, Nowon-gu and Seocho-gu; zones to last five years The Seoul Metropolitan Government has decided in advance to designate newly selected Moa Town candidate sites as land transaction permit zones, aiming to head off speculative demand before candidates are officially announced. The city said Thursday that its 14th Urban Planning Committee convened Wednesday and decided that any sites ultimately selected from among three zones under review at a Moa Town expert advisory meeting scheduled for Wednesday, would be designated as new land transaction permit zones. By running the candidate selection process and the land transaction permit zone designation process in parallel, the city said it intends to get ahead of speculative transactions that could occur around the time candidate sites are announced. The three candidate sites currently under consideration are located in Mapo-gu, Nowon-gu and Seocho-gu. Whichever sites are selected will be designated as land transaction permit zones for five years, from Sept. 16 through Sept. 15, 2031. The designation covers only land classified as "road" within Moa Town project zones, with permit-required transaction thresholds set at 6 square meters in residential areas, 15 square meters in commercial and industrial areas, and 20 square meters in green zones. The specific sites to be designated will be announced in the Seoul Metropolitan Government Gazette on Sept. 11. "We will preemptively block speculative demand by designating land transaction permit zones in tandem with the Moa Town candidate selection process from the very start," said Myeong No-jun, the city's housing director. "We will continue to monitor the real estate market to maintain order in property transactions."