Land Minister warns of additional regulation on Gimpo and Paju if needed

South Korean Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kim Hyun-mi said on Friday that the government stays intent on taking additional measures whenever abnormal signs are witnessed in Gimpo, Paju and other regions, to which a package of real estate regulations released on June 17 does not apply. In turn, not-yet-restricted areas are seeing housing prices on the rise.

As for the balloon effect across the South Korean housing market, Minister Kim made it clear in a radio show that related authorities keep a constant eye not only on Gimpo and Paju but also on other regions, showing her determination to impose additional regulation if needed.

Gimpo and Paju, in particular, are highly likely to be classified as "adjustment targets” due to the ever-growing balloon effect across their housing markets. As of the fourth week of June (June 22), Gimpo recorded the highest weekly rise in apartment unit prices of 1.88 percent since related data were first collected. During the same period, Paju showed a price rise rate of 0.27 percent, a sharp spike from the previous week (0.01 percent). A region is designated as an adjustment target when housing prices during the previous three months increase at a faster pace by 1.3 times than consumer prices do.


Ho-Kyeong Kim kimhk@donga.com · Won-Mo Yu onemore@donga.com