Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said the number of newly designated redevelopment zones in the capital over the past five years more than doubled from the previous decade, arguing that housing supply through the private sector should be expanded by raising floor area ratios for private redevelopment projects. He reaffirmed his opposition to the central government's plans to supply housing at Yongsan Park and to lift greenbelt restrictions.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government held the "2026 Seoul Housing Policy Results Briefing — How Seoul's Housing Policy Has Changed" at the main conference hall of Seoul City Hall on the 21st, disclosing the changes and results in the city's housing policy since 2021 along with future supply plans.
Oh said newly designated redevelopment zones in Seoul averaged 35 a year over the past five years, double the annual average of 17 in the preceding decade. According to the city, 214 zones covering 307,000 homes have advanced since the introduction of fast-track planning in 2021, and the zone designation period, which typically took more than five years, has been shortened to about two years.
The city said it aims to begin construction on a total of 310,000 homes through redevelopment projects by 2031, and that this year's construction starts have reached 50% of the target. "Over the past 20 years, 87.5% of Seoul's housing supply has come from the private sector," Oh said. "There were six major regulatory easings introduced in 2021 to normalize redevelopment projects, and the city's goal is not merely to remove regulations but to ensure they lead to construction starts and actual supply."
He stressed that redevelopment regulations should be eased further even after the government's Aug. 13 housing measures. "Easing the consent threshold for forming redevelopment associations and reducing land contribution requirements are very meaningful, but we must not stop, because conditions surrounding redevelopment projects are becoming more difficult," Oh said. The city plans to continue proposing to the central government a three-year temporary easing of restrictions on transferring association membership status, a reduction in the rental housing ratio for redevelopment projects from 50-75% to 30-50%, and a 1.2-fold easing of the legal ceiling on floor area ratios for private redevelopment projects.
On transferring authority over redevelopment projects of 500 homes or fewer to district governments, he said what matters is how much the actual project period can be shortened rather than where the authority sits. "Of the entire redevelopment project period, the portion handled by the city accounts for only about 2.7%, and the city's review period has been shortened from six months to a year in the past to one to three months now," Oh said. Given differences in administrative capacity and redevelopment review experience among district governments, the city plans to speed up projects through an integrated review system while maintaining expertise and consistency.
He also reaffirmed his position that Yongsan Park and the greenbelt should be preserved. As an alternative, he said the city plans to use the Tancheon Water Recycling Center to create a "Southeastern Youth Specialized Industrial Complex" combining housing for young adults, parkland and research and development facilities, supplying 13,000 homes. "The criticism that the Tancheon Water Recycling Center project will take time is correct, but Yongsan Park would also take around 10 years, and what we are proposing is to build on an existing facility rather than on a park that cannot be restored," Oh said. He added, "Even combining the Defense Acquisition Program Administration site, the military apartments and the officers' quarters that the nominee for land minister has in mind would amount to only half."
Public housing supply will also be expanded. The city said it supplied a total of 131,000 public homes over the five years since 2021 through public contributions from redevelopment projects, direct supply by Seoul Housing & Urban Development Corporation (SH) and purchase-based rentals, and plans to supply an additional 130,000 by 2031. About 35,000 units of youth safe housing have been supplied since the first completion, with a cumulative target of 46,000 by 2030.
