South Korea president vows to ease regulations to boost home supplies
Reuters
Published Jan 09, 2024 10:37PM ET
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday vowed to relax tax rules on multiple homeowners and ease rules governing the reconstruction of apartment buildings in a bid to curb housing costs and boost supplies.
His comments come three months ahead of general elections in April. Despite a recent property downturn, housing costs remain stubbornly high in the country and are cited as a key reason for discouraging marriage and childbirth.
"House prices rose more due to insufficient supply and that is still unresolved," Yoon told a discussion forum on television, calling the issue a "huge problem".
House prices in the capital Seoul were 15.2 times higher than the average annual income in 2022, up from 14.1 times in 2021, according to government data.
South Korea's real estate market has cooled since mid-2022 as demand dampened due to aggressive rate hikes by the central bank, with its policy rate currently at the highest since late 2008.
At the forum, measures to provide liquidity support for the construction sector were also discussed to help the financing of home building, the presidential office said.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.