Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) said on the 24th that it will begin accepting applications on the 29th from landowners seeking to sell property to the state under a 500 billion won ($360 million) public land reserve program aimed at managing supply and demand. LH said the purchases are intended to secure land in advance to ease a housing shortage in the Seoul metropolitan area and stabilize the land market. The corporation launched the 2026 public land reserve purchase solicitation together with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 8th.
Eligible properties are sites of 3,300 square meters or more within the metropolitan area — Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon — where apartment construction is permitted as of the application date. Applicants may submit a single lot or multiple adjoining lots. Land with existing buildings and land carrying mortgages, seizures or similar encumbrances is excluded. Also excluded is farmland, forest land, parkland and land already designated for public works projects where acquisition or use is restricted under relevant laws or where development is difficult given current conditions.
LH will conduct land surveys and purchase reviews on each application before deciding whether a site qualifies. The review will weigh market demand factors such as population and land prices, the potential for use in public works projects based on zoning, location and accessibility, and alignment with government policy. Sites deemed eligible will proceed to surveying, appraisal and price negotiations before a final sales contract is signed.
Purchase prices will be set through negotiation with owners, capped at the arithmetic mean of appraisals by two appraisal firms selected by LH. LH will cover appraisal costs once a sales contract is concluded.
Institutions, companies and individuals looking to sell land may apply during the one-month window from Sept. 29 to Oct. 28. Applications can be submitted in person at LH's four regional headquarters in the metropolitan area, by mail or through the LH website. Surveys and reviews will run from November through December, with eligibility notices issued in December. Surveying, appraisal and price negotiations are scheduled for January 2027, and contracts are set to be signed in February 2027.
LH also plans to expand its existing land reserve program for public development projects. Ahead of the 2027 round of applications for new public development reserve projects, scheduled for December, LH will visit local governments directly starting in October to provide tailored consulting.
"The public reserve system is a highly useful mechanism that allows us to secure land in advance and deploy it quickly when needed," an LH official said. "We will do our utmost to ensure that housing the public needs and public works projects in local communities are supplied and carried out in a timely manner."
