UNOCCUPIED APARTMENTS IN SEJONG

[Anchor Lead]

Many public housing apartments in the city of Sejong are unoccupied these days because landlords have a hard time finding tenants due to skyrocketing rents stemming from the low housing supply. The apartments in question were built in deserted areas with few convenience facilities.

[Pkg]

This public housing complex for 1500 households was built last year in Sejong. Tenants can rent 26-square-meter units for a 20 million won deposit and a monthly rent of 80000 won. Those eligible include low-income youths, newlyweds as well as workers at industrial complexes and the elderly aged 65 and up. Although rental ads were posted twice, only a handful of applications were received. As a result, one out of three units is now unoccupied. That's because the area lacks convenience facilities.

[Soundbite] Park Se-ri(Prospective tenant) : "There is nothing in that neighborhood. It would be very inconvenient to live there, so I just gave up."

Quite a few prospective tenants are hesitant about moving in. The Land and Housing Corporation built the apartments without surveying the area first. The issue exposed drawbacks in the so-called supplier-centered projects when consumers' needs are ignored.

[Soundbite] Sung Eun-jung(Solidarity for Participation & Autonomy of Sejong) : "Demand and supply should be adjusted to prevent apartment units from being unoccupied after construction."

With two more years needed to build various facilities in the neighborhood, many apartment units will likely stay vacant for the time being.