South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday that the true measure of housing supply is when people move in, not when construction starts, as he promised to speed up delivery of homes in government-planned new towns around the capital.
In a Korean-language post on X, Lee said he sat down with people due to move into the Gyeyang district in Incheon, west of Seoul, the first of the country’s so-called third-generation new towns to open. Lee, who once commuted from Gyeyang, said the meeting left him with deep feelings.
“The government manages housing supply based on construction starts, but what people feel as supply is move-in,” Lee wrote, according to a translation of his post. He said it takes at least two years and as many as four from groundbreaking to move-in, and that people are still waiting for homes during that time.
Lee said the government’s supply plans must translate into actual move-ins for real estate policy to win public trust, and that “fast and predictable supply” is the way to ease market anxiety and stabilize housing.
“The key now is speed,” he wrote, pledging to review all procedures, from planning and land compensation to permits, so that most public housing in the new towns can break ground by 2030.
Lee also promised to improve transportation, education and other infrastructure for new residents, including regional transport links. “Housing stability is a basic right directly tied to people’s lives,” he said.
The district is the first to welcome residents among the five third-generation new towns. A total of 1,285 households are expected to begin moving into two housing blocks there in December. Incheon city has set up a task force with related agencies to check infrastructure and public transport plans ahead of the move-ins.
Rep. Kim Nam-joon of the ruling Democratic Party, who represents the Incheon district once held by Lee, said Wednesday on X that he accompanied the president to the new town site and a traditional market in Gyeyang.
“It’s like it was just yesterday that I first set foot in Gyeyang with the president, and now, as the district’s lawmaker, I welcomed him to Gyeyang, and I felt mixed emotions,” Kim wrote. He pledged to look after transportation, schools and other infrastructure for residents.
Kim previously worked as an aide to Lee when Lee was the district’s lawmaker, and later served as spokesperson for the presidential office.
