Larger Apartments Planned for Public Housing Land

More mid- to large-sized apartments are expected to take up public housing land promoted by the Korea Land Corporation or municipalities.

The Ministry of Construction and Transportation (MOCT) announced on August 26 that it would grant city and provincial governors, those charged with approving housing land development projects, leeway to adjust the supply ratio of over 25.7 pyeong mid- to large-sized apartment sites within 10 percentage points by taking account of the regional conditions and housing demand in order to increase the supply of big apartments.

At present, the site quota for each apartment unit floor area stands at 30 percent for units 18.2 pyeong in size, 30 percent for units over 18.2 to 25.7 pyeong, and 40 percent for units more than 25.7 pyeong.

Consequently, the quota for each net area may change to a ratio of “20:30:50” or “30:20:50,” which is expected to result in a proportionately increased supply of large apartments.

Yoo Seong-yong, the public housing manager at the MOCT, said, “This plan will be enforced immediately since it doesn’t need to go through consultations between relevant ministries or the approval of the National Assembly. It just requires a revision of work guidelines on housing land development management.” If things go as planned by the Construction Ministry, among the new towns in the capital area, Paju, Kimpo, Suwon-Yiui will first be subject to the new measure aside from Pangyo in Seongnam City and Dongtan in Hwaseong City that have already been fairly developed.

Meanwhile, according to the Uri Party, the Ministry of Finance and Economy, and the MOCT, the most likely candidate for a mini satellite city in the Gangnam area is reportedly a one million-pyeong site centered around the land of the Special Warfare Command Center in Geoyeo-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul (580,000 pyeong), and one in the Namsungdae Golf Club (240,000 pyeong).

These sites have full access to existing amenities in the Gangnam region thanks to their proximity to the southern part of Seoul.

Although these areas are greenbelts, the consultation procedure will go relatively smoothly as the development-restricted zone has already been damaged significantly, and the Ministry of National Defense has set mid- to long-term plans to relocate the Special Warfare Command Center.

Jae-Seong Hwang Seung-Heon Lee jsonhng@donga.com ddr@donga.com