President Lee: "I only seek to normalize the real estate market, I am not forcing anyone to sell their home"

[Financial News] President Lee Jae-myung stated on the 14th through social media, "I seek only to normalize the real estate market and do not force anyone to sell their home. My aim is to recover unjust privileges granted to real estate investment and speculation, and to ensure that those involved bear corresponding burdens."
That day, President Lee shared a news article on X (formerly Twitter) titled, "Jang Dong-hyuk: 'President Lee roars at multiple-home owners in the middle of the night... stop intimidating people over real estate'." He then added his own comments. The article reported that People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk had criticized President Lee for raising the issue of extending the maturity of mortgage loans held by multiple-home owners.
President Lee stressed, "Owner-occupiers should be protected, but investment and speculative properties that are not used for living in, as well as multiple-home ownership, inflict harm on young people and low-income citizens without homes. It is only fair that they bear responsibilities and burdens commensurate with that impact."
He went on, "What I am proposing is to recover the privileges enjoyed by multiple-home owners who seek excessive unearned income beyond legitimate investment returns, and by those who own investment and speculative homes they do not live in. At the same time, we should strengthen corresponding burdens and responsibilities in taxation, finance, regulation and housing supply, so that the real estate market can be normalized, as in advanced countries."
President Lee added, "In a normalized real estate system, it is fine to own several homes as collectibles or for display, even while accepting economic losses." He continued, "Some countries, despite not being socialist, even prohibit owning more than a certain number of homes beyond one’s residence, but I do not think we need to go that far. I am not forcing anyone."
He further noted, "It is more desirable to use homes for residential purposes rather than for investment or speculation, so the law and system will simply be adjusted so that choosing the opposite entails losses." He concluded, "Whether to accept those losses or make a better choice is up to each individual."

cjk@fnnews.com Choi Jong-geun Reporter