Lee Junseok: "Lee Administration's Real Estate Measures Should Normalize Loans, Not Raise Taxes"

Opening Remarks at the Supreme Council Meeting of the Reform New Party on July 20

Lee Junseok, leader of the Reform New Party, criticized the Lee Jae-myung administration's housing policy stance on July 20, emphasizing, "The direction of upcoming meetings and the comprehensive real estate measures that will follow should be focused on normalizing loans, not increasing taxes."

At the party's Supreme Council meeting that day, Lee stated, "If a proper diagnosis is made, the right prescription is to remove the regulations that have been piled up over the past year," and added, "We must first provide relief to newlywed couples who have ended up in lawsuits and genuine homebuyers who have lost their down payments, and only then discuss the next set of policy measures."

Lee Junseok, leader of the Reform New Party. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

He pointed out, "The Lee Jae-myung administration, claiming to stabilize housing prices, has capped home mortgage loans in the Seoul metropolitan area at 600 million won, without considering either income or property value. Furthermore, for first-time homebuyers, the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio was cut from 80% to 70%."

He continued, "Although the stated aim was to curb multi-home owners and so-called ‘gap investors,’ it is actually only the younger generations, who need loans, that have been restricted. The government’s lending regulations are the exact opposite of targeted cancer therapies that kill only cancer cells; they instead selectively target the very young people who need support."

In the Q&A session following the Supreme Council meeting, Lee added, "The government should consider accepting genuine homebuyers' calls to lift lending restrictions and hold public forums to discuss them. If instead it tries once again to show stubbornness, such as by strengthening property holding taxes, the real estate market will be severely disappointed."

Meanwhile, regarding the luncheon meeting scheduled for July 21 with Jeong Jeom-sik, parliamentary leader of the People Power Party, Lee said, "I believe there is a need for joint response measures regarding supplementary investigative powers, the extension of the second special counsel, and how to address housing policy."

He further commented on the comprehensive special counsel act, stating, "There have been repeated cases where the special counsel has not produced any meaningful investigative results," and added, "I think it is right to bring the second special counsel to a swift conclusion."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.