KB News Desk
Kim Yun-duk, minister of land, infrastructure and transport, said on Monday he was considering repurposing vacant offices or commercial properties into housing amid concerns about housing supply instability in South Korea.
At a forum in Seoul hosted by Prime Minister Han Seong-sook, Kim said the government was taking the matter of solving the young generation’s housing problems “very seriously.” He added that developing commercial properties into residential buildings would be his signature policy to address housing supply bottlenecks.
“If the state buys vacant spaces and uses them to supply houses for the younger generation or newlywed couples, it would be very effective immediately,” Kim said.
High-ranking government officials and ordinary people gathered in the forum to discuss soaring housing prices and ways to curb housing demand as South Korea’s housing-related tax hike is imminent.
Kim’s comment came in response to a participant’s proposal to repurpose nonresidential spaces into houses, which could address the housing supply shortage and lower building vacancy rates.
