- Title: In unaffordable Seoul, housing takes centre stage of S.Korea election
- Date: 1st March 2022
- Summary: GOYANG, SOUTH KOREA (RECENT - FEBRUARY 17, 2022) (REUTERS) 39-YEAR-OLD SEOUL RESIDENT, LEE JAE-HONG (LEFT), PREPARING FOR YOUTUBE LIVE BROADCAST AT HIS OFFICE LEE BUTTONING UP HIS SHIRT VARIOUS OF LEE SPEAKING IN FRONT OF CAMERA FOR HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL CAMERA FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) 39-YEAR-OLD SEOUL RESIDENT, LEE JAE-HONG, SAYING: "I would do anything, if I can go ba
- Embargoed: 15th March 2022 01:07
- Keywords: Moon Jae-in South Korea apartment economy housing housing market presidential election real estate
- Location: SEJONG, GOYANG, SEOUL, BUSAN, HANAM, SOUTH KOREA
- City: SEJONG, GOYANG, SEOUL, BUSAN, HANAM, SOUTH KOREA
- Country: South Korea
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA002998825022022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Seoul resident Lee Jae-hong would have had no trouble buying a home back in 2018. With a strong credit score and a job at a blue-chip company, borrowing enough for an average Seoul apartment costing about $562,000 was well within reach.
But the now 39-year-old held off thinking there would be better opportunities in the coming years - only to be "gobsmacked" by a near tripling of prices in his Ilsan neighbourhood since President Moon Jae-in took office in 2017.
Housing has emerged as a critical issue in the presidential election slated for March 9, as Lee and millions of others who missed getting onto the property ladder blame the government for failing in its promises to make housing more affordable.
"I would do anything, if I can go back in time, to buy something," Lee told Reuters on February 23. "We should not give power again to those who try to control the (property) market."
Now a YouTuber, Lee said he will vote for Yoon Suk-yeol from the opposition party, whose policy pledges including cutting capital gains taxes and deregulating rules on knock-down-and-rebuild homes are regarded more market-friendly than those of Lee Jae-myung from Moon's progressive camp.
Moon promised to make South Korea more equitable by curbing what he believed was the root cause of the country's economic inequality, real estate speculation.
He raised capital gains taxes on multiple homes and repeatedly tightened loan restrictions, especially for higher-priced apartments. Starting with Seoul, the government designated more and more parts of surrounding satellite cities as speculative zones subject to tightened mortgage rules and raised tax rates on ownership of pricey properties.
But his single five-year term has been marked by endless debates about his policies, which inflicted pain on those he intended to help and benefited those who did the opposite of what the government advised - snap up homes using debt.
Moon's approval rating slid to 40% from as high as 84% when he took office in 2017, the latest poll by Gallup Korea showed. Those who disapprove of his performance cite his failure to tamp down real estate speculation as the biggest disappointment.
The average price of an apartment in Seoul more than doubled in the past five years to 1.26 billion won in January, making it less affordable than cities like New York, Tokyo, and Singapore, relative to income.
For those who got on the property ladder, the future looks far brighter.
Jang Sung-won, 32, left his civil servant job in November to run a YouTube channel and write books as his 2019 purchase of a three-bedroom home in Hanam, a satellite city of Seoul, gave him confidence that growing equity could be enough to support his pregnant wife and a child.
"If I hadn't succeeded in buying my own house, I don't think we could have our second child now. We would probably have had to postpone our plans. Because if I were still living in a studio apartment or renting, I would have to keep moving around," Jang said.
"I'm just very grateful, but at the same time, I feel sorry for others my age. Because they will now need more seed money to start buying their own house."
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