South Korea’s president vows to smash ‘devil’ of housing speculation
He says that soaring housing costs are forcing young people to abandon plans for marriage and childbirth
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[SEOUL] South Korean President Lee Jae-myung delivered an unusually stark warning against real estate speculation, urging multi-homeowners to consider “the blood and tears of millions of young people” unable to buy homes due to runaway prices.
He gave multi-homeowners a “last chance” to sell their excess houses before the government raised real estate taxes, vowing to rein in the country’s red-hot property market “at all costs”.
Lee said soaring housing costs are forcing young people to abandon plans for marriage and childbirth, and threatening the country’s social fabric.
“They say money is the devil – surely you haven’t let the devil take away even your most basic conscience?” Lee wrote on his X account on Tuesday (Feb 3), referring to those who sympathise with multi-homeowners.
The remarks come after apartment prices in Seoul rose for 52 consecutive weeks, defying government efforts to cool the market with steps including tighter lending rules. The government’s failure to rein in the rally threatens to undermine support for Lee.
In 2025, he described the housing market as a “ticking bomb”, and tried to coax speculative money away from property in favour of other assets such as stocks.
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“Do you not see the blood and tears of millions of young people who give up marriage and childbirth because of the high housing costs caused by them?” said Lee, who came to power last June, vowing to improve affordability.
A recent Gallup Korea poll showed that 40 per cent of respondents disapprove of his housing policies, higher than the 26 per cent who support them.
Nearly half of those surveyed said they expect housing prices to rise in the next year, while 19 per cent said they expect prices to fall.
The government is set to impose heavier capital gains taxes on property sales starting in May, and has said it is not considering extending the grace period for the levy.
“It will be better to sell than to hold on, and better to sell sooner rather than later,” Lee said in another X post.
The relentless rise in apartment prices also complicates the government’s efforts to channel household savings away from real estate into more productive financial assets.
Seeking to fend off any accusation that his comments might amount to a threat, Lee said the government has a wide range of policy tools at its disposal and urged investors betting against stricter measures to reassess the “changed reality”.
The push, he added, is intended to benefit the broader public and restore fairness to the housing market.
“I am not threatening, but rather recommending this because it is necessary and beneficial for everyone. This is the last chance to escape,” Lee added.
Real estate remains one of South Korea’s most sensitive economic flashpoints after housing costs surged under the liberal Moon Jae-in administration, paving the way for the rise of conservative leadership.
“For a sensible and prosperous nation, we will stop this destructive real estate speculation ‘at all costs’,” Lee said. BLOOMBERG
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