Pangyo Apartment Lottery Set for March

A pre-sale of 9,420 apartments with a net area of 25.7 pyeong or less will start in Pangyo New City, Gyeonggi Province on March 29.

The pre-sale will be announced on March 24, and applications will be accepted from March 29 to April 18 (excluding Saturdays and Sundays). The winners will be announced on May 4.

The pre-sale price of a 34-pyeong apartment (net area: 25.7 pyeong) will be around 374 million won according to government estimates. However, the price may be higher in accordance with the upper limit of construction costs.

The competition rate among applicants from the metropolitan area for the apartments is expected to be higher than 1,000 to one.

On January 26, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation settled and announced its timetable for the coming pre-sale and applications for the apartments in Pangyo New City, along with the aforementioned information.

To apply for a Jugong apartment, one should apply through the website of the Korea National Housing Corporation (KNHC). To apply for an apartment constructed by private corporations, one should apply through the websites of commercial banks after opening a housing savings account. To apply on the Internet, one must have official certification.

Only those who have difficulties using the Internet, including senior citizens, can apply off-line.

For the first time since the pre-sale system started, apartment model houses will be replaced with a blueprint, and apartment views will be provided through the websites of construction companies and cable TV channels.

A model apartment is planned to be unveiled only after the winners are announced. Therefore, some applicant disappointment is expected because they will not be able to see the apartments with their own eyes before applying for one.

Among the 9,420 apartments that will be up for pre-sale in March, 5,844 will be available for general pre-sale, and the other 3,576 will be up for lease.

In an effort to curb speculation, the government has decided to crack down on the illegal transaction of pre-sale rights by offering a 500,000-won reward for information leading to the report and investigation of apartment speculators and their sources of money.

Seung-Heon Lee ddr@donga.com