The government will disclose progress on housing supply in the greater Seoul area, including groundbreaking figures, to the public twice a month starting in October.
The decision was made on the 30th at the third pan-government meeting on accelerating housing supply, chaired by Prime Minister Han Seong-sook. Starting Oct. 16, the government will hold regular briefings every other week, twice a month, on the overall progress of housing supply. The briefings will be held at 11 a.m. on Fridays as a rule, with a vice-minister-level official from the Office for Government Policy Coordination and the first vice minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport taking turns presenting.
The briefings are expected to cover the full scope of supply, including groundbreaking figures for homes the government has pledged to build in the greater Seoul area and progress on individual projects. The move reflects a view that the public finds it difficult to feel the effects of housing policy, given that it takes years from groundbreaking to completion and move-in. The aim is to improve market predictability by disclosing progress at regular intervals. "Since the housing supply headquarters is tracking all the relevant statistics, we will work with the prime minister's office to report progress accurately," an official at the land ministry said.
Han reviewed the status of housing supply efforts on the same day, chairing a meeting with ministers on housing policy followed by the pan-government review meeting. "The most important thing is to raise predictability on housing supply by telling the public in concrete terms, project by project, what they want to know," Han said. "We must restore trust in housing supply." Han also urged the land ministry and the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) to "move quickly so that a tentatively named 'housing supply digital dashboard,' which would let the public see the progress of housing supply at a glance, can be built and made public as soon as possible."
President Lee Jae-myung, at a closed session of the Cabinet meeting the previous day, instructed officials to explain to the public in detail the recent shifts in groundbreaking and move-in volumes in the greater Seoul area, which have risen lately. He told ministers of the relevant agencies to approach the task with a readiness to "get down on the ground" to speed up supply.
In its Sept. 7 measures last year, the government said it would break ground on 1.35 million new homes in the greater Seoul area by 2030. In January this year, it unveiled a plan to supply 60,000 homes using idle land in urban centers, and last month it announced measures to add "230,000 homes plus more" in the greater Seoul area.
