President Lee Jae-myung on Thursday sought public input on whether to continue allowing purchase-to-rent housing programs, following his decision to end the moratorium on heavy capital gains taxes for multi-home owners.
"Setting aside cases where housing was built for rental purposes, it seems unreasonable that anyone can accumulate unlimited properties simply by registering as a rental business operator," Lee wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
"If we allow individuals to amass hundreds of homes, won't there inevitably be shortages no matter how many tens of thousands of units we build and supply?" he asked.
The president's remarks signal growing attention to the purchase-to-rent system as a potential tool to increase housing supply, following visible increases in properties hitting the market after the tax policy change was finalized.
Purchase-to-rent programs allow private investors to buy existing homes, register as rental business operators, and manage them as rental properties. While the system can quickly expand rental housing stock, critics have warned that unrestricted purchases through mere registration could lock up available properties and stimulate market prices, undermining supply expansion efforts.
The Moon Jae-in administration permitted purchase-to-rent arrangements in 2017 under its "registered rental activation" policy to boost rental supply. However, amid criticism that the system was being exploited by multi-home owners to accumulate properties and concerns over market overheating, the government significantly scaled back the program in 2020 by eliminating short-term registrations and restricting new apartment purchase-to-rent registrations.