PUBLIC SERVANTS' SEJONG APT PRICES

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A survey shows that prices of apartments set aside for public servants who work in the Sejong administrative city rose by an average 500 million won per unit in past years. The civic group who conducted the survey points out the price rise has been particularly steep since the Moon Jae-in government took power. The group has urged the government to immediately scrap the special housing scheme for Sejong public employees and also reconsider the plan to relocate more government agencies to Sejong.

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This is an apartment complex in Sejong city where some 100 civil servants reside after winning the right to do so via the special housing program. The original sale price was about 390 million won per unit but as of this May, that has shot up to an average of 1.4 billion won. A civic group called the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice tracked the price growth of 26-thousand apartment homes owned by public servants in Sejong city and found that the average price of each unit has increased by at least 500 million won. Since 2010, the housing units were sold at just over 300 million won on average but the price tag has gone up to 820 million as of this May. The civic group says that prices especially jumped since lawmakers called for the relocation of even the parliament and the presidential office to Sejong.

[Soundbite] Kim Tae-nyeon(Then Democratic Party floor leader(Jul. 2020)) : "The Nat'l Assembly must move to Sejong as well as the presidential office and all gov't agencies."

The group notes that in the case of two particular housing complexes, prices soared 132% as of May compared to January 2017 which was before the Moon administration took office. The survey results show the special housing program initially introduced to provide stable housing for public employees has now pretty much lost that purpose. Under revised regulations, the program has been abolished but the Citizens Coalition wants the scope expanded.

[Soundbite] Im Hyo-chang(Policy director, CCEJ) : "The gov't is set to scrap the housing program in Sejong alone but similar schemes for all civil servants in other so-called innovative cities must also be abolished."

The group also calls on the government to reconsider the Sejong relocation plan and its current real estate policies and come up with fundamental measures to stabilize home prices.