Metro Seoul Area to Get 600,000 New Homes by 2012

The Seoul metropolitan area will get an additional 600,000 new housing units by 2012, of which 320,000 in limited development areas, or greenbelts, will be supplied six years ahead of schedule.

An apartment application deposit program for young people who just got jobs will also be introduced.

The Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs Ministry yesterday announced a revised plan to expand the housing supply and improve the supply system. It announced the measures at an emergency economic meeting at the presidential office chaired by President Lee Myung-bak.

President Lee said on the new measures, “This not only offers housing for ordinary citizens, but also can stimulate the economy by creating more jobs.”

According to the plan, the number of new houses to be built in the greenbelt zone of the Seoul metropolitan area by 2012 will increase from 120,000 to 320,000.

Combined with new units to be built in downtown redevelopment areas and new cities, the number of new houses will rise from 400,000 to 600,000 over the next three years.

The ministry will designate five to six zones for new housing in greenbelts in the second half of this year, and will supply new houses twice a year through reservations. Wirye New City encompassing Seoul’s Songpa district and the suburbs of Hanam and Seongnam in Gyeonggi Province will provide 22,000 of the 43,000 units.

The first 2,000 to 4,000 units will be allocated through reservations in April next year.

Fifty thousand units will be supplied through the new apartment application system for young people who just joined the workforce, newlyweds and households with three children or more by 2012.

The price of new houses in southern Seoul’s Segok and Umyeon districts to be allocated in September will be 11.5 million won (9,214 dollars) per 3.3 square meters, half the market price. The price in Hanam’s Misa district will be 9.5 million won (7,612 dollars) and that in Goyang’s Wonheung district 8.5 million won (6,810 dollars). Both figures are 30 percent lower than the market rate.

To stem fears that speculators could take advantage of rising housing prices, the owner of such a unit must live in it for at least five years and cannot sell it for seven to 10 years, up from five years.

aryssong@donga.com