Home Subscription Point Policy Revised

Beginning in September, a policy that allows home subscribers to receive higher points in areas based on non-ownership, the number of dependent family members, and account subscription periods to be given lot priority, will be implemented.

Non-owner subscription opportunities will be increased, but those with more than one home will be strictly limited, leaving winning chances slim for end users who want to move to bigger homes.

The Ministry of Construction and Transportation held a public hearing at the Korea Water Resources Development Corporation in Gwacheon City, Gyeonggi, on March 29 to announce a “Home Subscription Policy Revision Plan.”

This plan will directly affect 4,800,000 deposit and premium subscribers who withdrew their savings out of a total of 7,230,000 account subscribers.

According to the revision, the subscription point policy will take up 75 percent of the private residences that have a exclusive area of less than 25.7 pyeong that have been applied for by deposit and premium subscribers, and the current lottery system will be applied to the rest.

The winners will be chosen by a bond bidding system ranked according to the highest price of deposit subscribers’ homes over 25.7 pyeong in area, along with private residences and public housing. If the bidding price is the same, half will be allotted by a subscription point policy, while the rest will be allocated by lottery. Individual subscription points will be decided by non-ownership period (maximum: 32 points), number of dependent family members (35 points), and account subscription period (17 points), with the highest score being 84.

The Ministry of Construction and Transportation decided that the age of householders included in the original subscription point items overlapped with the non-ownership period or account subscription period, and excluded it.

Higher scores will be given to those with prolonged non-ownership periods, those who live with their parents, or those who have more children.

On the other hand, if you have one home, your chances of winning will be slim due to being pushed to second in the policy rankings, even if you were first on the account subscription list. If you possess two or more homes, each home will deduct 5 points. Exceptions are homes smaller than 18 pyeong and cheaper than the declared value of 50,000,000 won (actual transaction price: around 70,000,000 won) with a 10-year possession limit, which will be categorized as non-owners.

In the Seoul Metropolitan area, however, there are few homes that satisfy these requirements, leading to criticism that account subscribers who own smaller homes will be disadvantaged.

koh@donga.com jefflee@donga.com