Politics · South Korea · 2 hrs ago
South Korean opposition leader urges change to housing policy amid rent increases
People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik urged South Korea’s government to change its housing policy amid rising rents and a shortage of rental homes.
He said tougher rules on living in homes and on loans for rental deposits had chilled home sales and reduced the supply of homes for lease.
Jeong said rental demand is shifting toward monthly payments, pushing up rents and spreading pressure from Seoul into Gyeonggi province.
He cited data showing that Seoul apartment rents rose 7.68% in the first nine months of 2026, compared with a 3.94% increase over all of 2025.
He said young people and newly married couples face growing difficulty finding homes as loans become harder to obtain and rental options dwindle.
Jeong also criticised President Lee Jae-myung for discussing the prospect of falling home prices while young people struggle with housing costs.
He called for the government to reverse its policy course, but the statements do not specify what action the government will take next.
South Korean opposition floor leader Jeom-sik Jeong urged the government and ruling party to reverse their housing policy and repeal the 10·15 measures.
He said tighter rules on residency and jeonse loans had frozen home sales and reduced the supply of jeonse rentals, pushing more demand toward monthly rent.
Jeong said rising rents were spreading from Seoul to Gyeonggi Province and making it harder for young people and newlyweds to find homes.
He criticized President Lee Jae-myung for discussing housing-price declines while renters faced rising costs.
Jeong called on the president’s second son to find his own home through a jeonse or monthly-rent arrangement.
- Who
- Jeom-sik Jeong, floor leader of the opposition People Power Party.
- What
- He urged the government and ruling party to reverse housing policy and called for repeal of the 10·15 measures.
- When
- November 2, 2026.
- Where
- At a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul.
- Why
- Jeong said tighter residency and jeonse-loan rules had reduced jeonse availability and shifted demand to monthly rentals, raising costs.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
President Lee shared a social media post predicting falling housing prices and referred to the difficult path toward normalizing the asset market.
Jeom-sik Jeong criticized the housing measures at a National Assembly meeting and urged the government to reverse its policy.
- Policy measures
- Yonhap identifies them as the 10·15 housing measures
- Seoul apartment monthly rents
- Rose 7.68% from January through September 2026, according to Korea Real Estate Board statistics cited by Donga Ilbo
- Seoul apartment monthly rents
- Rose 3.94% over the whole of 2025, according to Donga Ilbo
- Nowon District prices
- Sale, jeonse and monthly-rent prices each rose by more than 10%, according to Jeong
- Small officetel rent
- Seoul average monthly rent rose 4.77% in one year and exceeded 800,000 won, according to Donga Ilbo
What people are saying
The Seoul metropolitan area is now in a jeonse and monthly-rent crisis.
The president should acknowledge the failure of his housing policy and repeal the 10·15 measures first. He should completely change the direction of housing policy.
If all demand is concentrated on monthly rentals, rents soar, and this is spreading from Seoul to Gyeonggi Province through a balloon effect.
First, have the president’s second son find a home for himself, whether through jeonse or monthly rent.