Frequent revisions to housing subscription system drive people to give up

The number of subscribers to housing subscription savings accounts, which peaked at 28.6 million in June 2022, has declined for two years and three months, reaching 26.79 million by the end of September. The housing subscription system, revised 43 times under the Moon Jae-in and Yoon Suk Yeol administrations, has become highly complicated amid a shortage of housing supply, leading to an increase in so-called “applicants” who abandon applications for apartments as their chances of winning diminish.

The Rules on Housing Supply and the Enforcement Rule of the Special Act on Public Housing, which regulate the housing subscription system, have been revised 27 times during the past five years of the previous government and 16 times in the past two and a half years of the current government. New items are added each time a new real estate plan is released. In May of this year, the ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ section of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s subscription system explanatory materials grew to 480 items. Even consulting firms specializing in the housing subscription system charge for advice.

The loophole-filled subscription system has also led to abnormal behavior. According to The Dong-A Ilbo, Mr. Lee, who is in Hanam City, Gyeonggi Province, has been married for seven years and has three children but did not register his marriage. He was afraid that he would miss the opportunity to apply for the housing subscription because of his wife's house, which she owned before their marriage. Kim, 38, who recently won the special supply housing subscription as a newlywed—regarded as a special lotto ticket within the Gangnam district of Seoul—created a corporation to meet the income criteria of less than 100% of the average monthly income of urban workers in the previous year, minimizing his or her salary and living on a company card.

The problem is that successive governments have added benefits for certain generations and classes based on political needs. The current government's emphasis on youth, newlyweds, and newborns has left middle-aged and elderly individuals without housing feeling deprived, leading them to cancel their subscription accounts. In Seoul's Gangnam district, where real estate prices are high, the program has been criticized for benefiting only ‘silver-spoon’ young adults who earn little but have access to parental funding. Due to repeated patchwork revisions, the current housing subscription system has largely deviated from its original purpose of providing homeownership opportunities to ordinary people without a home. It is necessary to rethink the system from the ground up.