Oh Se-hoon: “Is the president living in a world of his own?”—takes direct aim at Lee Jae Myung’s remarks on home prices

[Financial News] Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon hit back after President Lee Jae Myung said the government was preparing measures to brace for a sharp drop in home prices. On the 3rd, Oh criticized Lee, saying, “Is the president the only one living in a world of his own?” and arguing that he should first look at the reality of rising Seoul apartment prices and jeonse and monthly rents.
That day, Oh posted on his Facebook account, a social networking service (SNS), criticizing President Lee’s remarks and citing the rise in Seoul apartment prices. He asked rhetorically, “Seoul apartment prices have risen for 90 consecutive weeks, and this year’s increase is the highest since records began. Where on earth did you see signs of a collapse in home prices?”
Earlier that day, President Lee said at a Cabinet meeting, “Actual transaction prices in major areas are falling to a startling degree.” Later, in a social media post, he outlined the government’s response to a sharp drop in prices, saying, “We are already devising measures to prepare for a significant fall in home prices, including large-scale government purchases for use as public rental housing.”
Oh argued that the difficulty of buying and selling homes due to the government’s lending restrictions should not be interpreted as stabilization in home prices. He criticized Lee, asking, “Do you think home prices have been brought under control just because people can no longer buy homes after you clamped down on lending?” and “Do you see only the numbers you want to see, while failing to notice jeonse and monthly rents soaring day after day?”
He also stressed that the burden of jeonse and monthly rent was growing. Oh said, “People are anxious day after day, wondering when the next rent bomb will hit, yet I simply cannot understand what the president is looking at to worry first about a collapse in home prices.”
He went on to criticize the government for focusing on the possibility of future home-price declines rather than the current burden of housing costs, arguing, “Everyone is fighting for their lives to put out the fire at their feet, while the president alone has set out to prepare for a flood.”
He also countered President Lee’s remarks on permitting issues related to housing supply.
Oh argued that Seoul should not be blamed for the decline in permits. He said, “It seems they are once again trying to pin responsibility for the drop in permits since 2022 on Seoul,” adding, “During former Mayor Park Won-soon’s tenure, a whopping 389 redevelopment zones were canceled, and opportunities to supply 430,000 homes were lost.”
He also stressed that the Seoul Metropolitan Government had worked to increase housing supply by redesignating redevelopment zones and improving project feasibility. Oh said, “To revive the supply base that had collapsed, we designated zones again, improved project feasibility, and worked day and night to move projects through permitting and into construction.”
Taking aim at the government’s account of permitting performance, he criticized it, saying, “Just as results are finally beginning to emerge, it claims that permits have returned to normal under this government. That is shameless: beyond turning the blame around, it even distorts the facts.”
Oh argued that the government had fueled a “triple surge”—in sale prices, jeonse deposits and monthly rents—by placing excessive emphasis on owner-occupancy requirements.
He called on President Lee, saying, “If you have no intention of facing reality properly, you might as well stay quiet,” and “If you don’t want to go down in history as the administration that failed worst on real estate, you should start by overhauling your housing-policy aides, even at this late stage.”
[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter