The government will yield state-owned properties and make radical exemptions in building-to-floor ratio or height of highrise to add 132,000 residential units in Seoul and surrounding areas.

Hong Nam-ki, economy and finance minister, on Tuesday announced the government’s first major supply-end measures to address to dire housing shortage in capital Seoul and neighboring areas after more than 20 sets of actions to suppress demand failed to tame housing prices.

Under the new outline, the government will ease redevelopment rules to allow aged apartment complexes to be newly built with floor area ratio stretched to up to 500 percent and go up to as high as 50 floors. Residential high-rise in Seoul is currently capped at 35 floors.

Eased rules will be applied to redevelopment projects that will be jointly led by public entities such as state-run Korea Land & Housing Corp. through property donation.

The government plans to supply 50,000 new housing units through such means over five years.

The government will also supply more than 20,000 new housing units in new town areas that have been lifted development regulation through new public redevelopment projects.

Korea also plans to supply 33,000 housing units by developing public land such as state-owned Taereung golf course in Nowon District, northern Seoul, Seoul Regional Public Procurement Service area in Seocho District, southern Seoul, and Seoul headquarters of Korea Land & Housing Corporation in Gangnam, southern Seoul.

Another plan is to ramp up supply of housing units from maintenance depot in Yongsan, central Seoul, from 8,000 to 10,000 units to additionally supply 24,000 housing units.

It will also double the number of new housing units through pre-subscription in new cities from 30,000 to 60,000 units.

The new measure to increase housing supply in the capital city is an addition to a slew of measures by the current Moon administration to curb the country’s skyrocketing housing prices, mostly focused on levying heavy taxes on multiple home owners. A recent finding found apartment prices in Seoul have soared 52 percent over the three years under the Moon government.

By Lee Eun-joo

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]