60,000 Homes to Be Supplied in Central Seoul and the Metropolitan Area, Construction to Start Next Year

The Financial News – The third housing supply package under the Lee Jae-myung administration was announced on the 29th. As a follow-up to the September 7 Housing Supply Expansion Plan unveiled last year, the government stated that it will swiftly supply a total of 60,000 homes by utilizing underused land in prime urban locations such as areas near transit hubs, as well as aging public assets. The plan shifts the focus from new towns on the outskirts to central urban areas, and seeks to shorten permitting and project procedures so that residents can feel the impact of new supply sooner.■ Plan to supply 60,000 homes in Seoul Special Metropolitan City and the Seoul metropolitan areaThis package was prepared as an extension of the September 7 Housing Supply Expansion Plan announced last September. On the 29th, the government held a Ministerial Meeting on Promoting Housing Supply at Government Complex Seoul, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy Koo Yun-cheol, to discuss ways to expand housing supply in urban centers and speed up project implementation. Ten ministries, including the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, took part and reviewed the cross-government framework for pushing the supply plan forward.
The government will supply a total of 60,000 homes by using low-utilization sites in city centers, such as idle land, outdated public office buildings, and plots vacated by relocating public institutions. By region, 32,000 homes will be built in Seoul Special Metropolitan City, 28,000 in Gyeonggi Province, and 1,000 in Incheon Metropolitan City. The total development area is about 4.87 million square meters, equivalent to two Pangyo new towns and roughly 1.7 times the size of Yeouido.
In Seoul Special Metropolitan City, supply will be expanded mainly around the Yongsan International Business District and the Camp Kim site. The plan for the Yongsan International Business District has been adjusted to accommodate 10,000 homes by increasing the floor area ratio. At Camp Kim, the number of homes will be raised from the originally planned 1,400 to 2,500 by rationalizing green space requirements. In addition, the Yongsan 501st Intelligence Unit site, detention basins, the Urban Regeneration Innovation District, and the Yongsan Post Office site have also been designated as supply locations.
Around 6,800 homes will be supplied on the Taereung Country Club site in Nowon District. The former military golf course will be redeveloped mainly with mid- to low-rise housing after a World Heritage impact assessment, and will include both residential space for young people and newlyweds and new green areas. Approximately 1,500 homes will be built on the relocation site of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA) and the Korea Economic Development Exhibition Hall in Dongdaemun District, and about 1,300 homes will be constructed on the relocation site of research institutes in Bulgwang-dong, Eunpyeong District.
In the Gyeonggi region, the government will integrate development of LetsRun Park Seoul in Gwacheon City and the relocation site of the Defense Counterintelligence Command (DCC) to supply about 9,800 homes. Leveraging the location adjacent to Seoul Racecourse Park Station on Seoul Subway Line 4, the area is to be developed into a self-sufficient, jobs-and-housing-integrated city. Around 6,300 homes will be supplied in the Geumto 2 Public Housing District and Yeosu 2 Public Housing District in Seongnam, which will be developed into an advanced, eco-friendly residential complex linked with Pangyo Techno Valley. Long-delayed small-scale projects near transit hubs, such as the Gwangmyeong Police Station site and the Sinjang Tennis Court site in Hanam, as well as sites related to the relocation and reorganization of military units, have also been included as supply targets.■ Speed push through Preliminary Feasibility Study exemptions and parallel proceduresThe government has identified speed of supply as the core of this package. It plans to actively use exemptions from the Preliminary Feasibility Study and to carry out district designation and land compensation procedures in parallel, thereby shortening project timelines as much as possible. Progress on each project will be continuously monitored through a joint management system involving the relevant ministries.
Urban supply projects in particular have repeatedly faced delays because of complex site conditions and conflicting interests. To address this, the government has decided to manage implementation status jointly from the inter-ministerial consultation stage onward, in order to accelerate project execution. Procedures that were previously handled separately by individual ministries or local governments will now be overseen at the pan-government level, with the aim of preventing permits and administrative processes from becoming bottlenecks in the supply schedule.
Deputy Prime Minister Koo Yun-cheol stated that the government intends to swiftly supply 60,000 homes in easily accessible urban locations to help stabilize housing for young people and newlyweds. He also requested that the relevant ministries closely manage the implementation status of the candidate sites included in this package.
In addition to the volumes announced this time, the government plans to continue identifying further supply opportunities within city centers and to promptly prepare institutional reforms to expand housing supply.
en1302@fnnews.com Jang In-seo Reporter