Tax Reduction for Buying a House in Population Decline Areas... Acquisition Tax Eased Up to 1.2 Billion

[Financial News] The government has introduced comprehensive measures to boost the long-stagnant local construction economy, including tax benefits expansion, public purchase, public construction system improvement, and a shift in financial support methods. The aim is to increase local housing demand and accelerate construction site speed by simplifying business procedures and easing investment standards.
Gu Yoon-cheol, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance, warned at the economic ministers' meeting held at the Government Complex Seoul on the 14th that "if the imbalance between the metropolitan area and the regions is not resolved, our economy may fall into 'arteriosclerosis.'" He emphasized, "As funds and industries do not circulate to the regions, which are the roots of the economy, growth capacity is declining. We must revive the regional economy to ensure the blood flows through our economy, and breathe life into it with local construction investment measures."
Additionally, Deputy Prime Minister Gu stated, "We will boldly change the financial support method so that local development strategies can be pursued centering on local governments that know the region best," and announced, "We will provide comprehensive support for finance, tax, and manpower for future strategic industries specialized in the region."
 The government has introduced measures to boost the long-stagnant local construction economy, including tax benefits expansion and public purchase. The aim is to increase local housing demand and accelerate construction site speed by improving public construction procedures and easing project cost standards.
Deputy Prime Minister Gu specifically explained, "The scope of tax special cases applied when a single homeowner purchases a second house in a region will be expanded from the existing 'population decline areas' to 'population decline interest areas.'" In the case of population decline areas, the reduction range is widened by easing the standard for capital gains, comprehensive real estate, and property tax from 400 million won to 900 million won or less, and the acquisition tax acquisition value standard from 300 million won to 1.2 billion won or less.
If you purchase unsold houses after completion in non-metropolitan areas, the acquisition tax surcharge will be excluded until 2026, and the rate will be halved. LH will additionally purchase 8,000 unsold houses during the same period, and exemption of acquisition tax for HUG and construction companies during safe resale will support supply stability and market normalization.
Furthermore, to speed up public construction, the preliminary feasibility study (pre-feasibility study) criteria for social overhead capital (SOC) projects will be raised from a total project cost of 50 billion won to 100 billion won for the first time in 26 years. The evaluation items will also be reorganized to favor regional strategic projects and will be applied from the first half of 2026.
To enhance regional autonomy, from next year, the size of the comprehensive grant for the special account for local finance (special account for local finance) will be expanded nearly threefold from 3.8 trillion won this year to more than 10 trillion won. Deputy Prime Minister Gu explained, "We support local governments to autonomously decide on projects and investment scales to promote region-specific investments."


spring@fnnews.com Lee Bo-mi Reporter