President Lee Jae-myung has instructed officials to "break from past practices and secure housing supply through extraordinary solutions." Immediately after returning from his South American tour on the 3rd, he traveled by helicopter to chair a real estate and stock market review meeting at the Blue House, where he issued the directive. The Blue House appears to be rolling up its sleeves to boost housing supply across the board. The move is read as an acknowledgment that real estate taxes have limits in stabilizing home prices, with the goal of turning around waning public sentiment.
Seong Ki-hong, the Blue House senior secretary for public relations and communication, conveyed President Lee's directive in a radio interview on the 6th. "We are currently exploring multifaceted measures on expanding housing supply and rationalizing housing finance," Seong said, emphasizing, "We plan to unveil policies, including supply issues, to the public as soon as possible." He added, "The part the president emphasized most (at the meeting) was measures to expand supply," and "He stressed that it would be best to compile and announce them together."
Seong also explained, "Going forward, the government will expand public rental supply to stabilize jeonse and monthly rents, and will continue to pursue measures to ease housing cost burdens for young people and those without homes," adding, "The government is devising various measures to find a fundamental stabilization of the issue through expanded housing supply."
Seong said that since the meeting on the 3rd was a review of both real estate and the stock market, measures to stabilize the stock market were also discussed. "The president, calling attention to the anxiety of stock investors, emphasized to his aides to thoroughly review and analyze the factors increasing stock market volatility and to take swift action," Seong said. "The Blue House is also aware that single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been a factor increasing market volatility."
Regarding the accountability of Blue House Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom raised in some quarters, he said, "At this point, it is more important to carefully watch the market and attend to countermeasures." He added, "We have put forward supplementary measures and are closely monitoring the current market situation," and "It is true that we are meticulously reviewing the situation and, if necessary, are also considering additional measures while conducting follow-up management."
