Pangyo Likely To Be "Real Lottery"

The subscription rate for Pangyo new town, Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province, which will be sold in lots in November this year, seems to be higher than previous expectations. This is because the limit of floors for apartments will be decreased below 25 floors, and the floor area ratio (the ratio of lot area per total building space) will be reduced from an average of 160 percent to 150 percent, which will lead to a decrease in the amount of apartment space built by 10 percent.

Accordingly, it has been analyzed that the subscription rate of those who ranked first, including those living in the metropolitan area (excluding Seongnam City) for apartments of under 25.7 pyeong in size will be much higher, 738 to one from the previous ratio of 543 to one.

In addition, it seems that the competition rate of those who have the highest ratio of winning numbers, including those who live in Seongnam, who are over 40 years old, and who have held no house for over 10 years, will be 79 to one, higher than the previous estimate of 72 to one.

The Ministry of Construction and Transportation stated on April 12 that considering the altitude limit of Seoul Airport near Pangyo, the highest height of the planned east apartments will be limited to 70 meters from the surface of the ground in the center of the Gyeongbu Expressway. If this plan is decided on, building will be allowed up to 25 floors.

Prior to this, the west Pangyo area of the Gyeongbu Expressway had an apartment building limit of 20 floors from the district unit plan.

A reason why the government has tried to decrease the floor area ratio is a result of a requirement to reduce the population density per hectare of 96 to 86.4 in Pangyo new town given by the Ministry of Environment.

As a result, it is expected that the total amount of housing to be built in Pangyo and the number of eligible households will be 26,800 households and 84,000, down 10 percent (2,900 households) from the previous figure of 29,700 households, down from 89,100, respectively.

Moreover, the area’s pre-sale prices will be higher due to increased costs incurred by construction companies.

Jae-Seong Hwang Sang-Rok Lee jsonhng@donga.com myzodan@donga.com