▲ Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
The government is accelerating housing supply projects by addressing on-site bottlenecks, such as delays in project financing (PF) guarantees and fund investments.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) announced on Tuesday (June 16) that it has prepared customized support plans for four project sites that can be resolved immediately, out of 24 cases of on-site difficulties reported through its support center.
Since its launch on May 29, the support center has received a total of 24 complaints over the past two weeks.
Including cases that submitted multiple project sites, this covers a total of 30 sites and approximately 15,000 housing units.
First, a mixed-use residential development site in Yongsan-gu, Seoul (136 apartment units), was in urgent need of a PF guarantee from the Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) to transition to main project financing ahead of its bridge loan maturity at the end of this month.
MOLIT plans to shorten the HUG guarantee review period, which typically takes about two months, to ensure the PF guarantee can be issued within this month, provided that the requirements are met.
A residential complex project consisting of 855 units in Jisan-dong, Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do, was struggling with setting appropriate sale prices and selecting a contractor due to a lack of comparable sales data in the older downtown area.
In response, HUG plans to provide consulting for calculating appropriate sale prices to support the developer in utilizing PF guarantees.
Furthermore, to respond to similar cases in the future, MOLIT plans to establish an AI-based method for calculating appropriate sale prices that reflects location characteristics within this year.
Additionally, the ministry intends to prepare and implement a system starting in July that allows for the reflection of rising material costs—driven by factors such as the war in the Middle East—into appropriate sale prices.
For a 585-unit public-supported private rental housing project in Oryu-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul, and a 1,595-unit project in Jangan, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do, the developers requested expedited deliberations on Housing and Urban Fund investments to minimize financial costs. However, timely reviews were difficult due to a recent increase in the number of applicants and budget requirements.
MOLIT plans to hold the Fund Investment Deliberation Committee starting in early July to quickly review whether these and other pending projects meet the requirements for investment, with the goal of inducing construction starts within the year.
The remaining 20 project sites submitted requests regarding the rationalization of urban planning, permission for developer loans secured by houses scheduled for demolition, financial support, and the expedited implementation of purchase-rental businesses.
MOLIT plans to provide swift support for issues that can be resolved immediately, while reviewing whether to implement improvements for tasks that require institutional changes in consultation with relevant ministries and agencies.
Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Yoon-duck stated, "The field is more important than anything else for expanding housing supply," adding, "We will listen to voices from the field frequently and supplement our supply plans to do our utmost to stabilize the housing market."
(Photo: Provided by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.