[비즈한국] President Lee Jae-myung has been issuing messages regarding real estate daily since the start of this year. Perhaps due to the President's strong remarks on real estate, expectations for rising housing prices have recently shown signs of cooling. However, unlike the decline in Korea's overall population, the number of households is increasing every year, leading to concerns that if housing supply is not properly addressed, the real estate policy failures of the previous Democratic government could be repeated.
President Lee has been strongly intervening in the real estate market verbally, stating things like "There is no government that beats the market, but there is no market that beats the government," "I will stop ruinous real estate speculation by any means necessary," and "I will ensure a major real estate transformation to prevent citizens from suffering due to skyrocketing house prices."
While visiting Singapore on the 1st, he stated on X, "The problem is not the speculator, but the politicians and the government that created a system where speculation is possible," adding, "Unlike in the past, I will thoroughly design taxes, finance, and regulations so that making the same choices as in the past will result in losses."
On the 2nd, during a meeting with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, he remarked, "One of the similarities between Singapore and South Korea is that many people live in a small territory," adding, "It is truly amazing that housing or real estate is not a social issue at all there."
Perhaps thanks to the President's strong verbal interventions, consumer expectations for rising housing prices have plummeted. According to the Bank of Korea's Consumer Survey, the housing price outlook index for February fell to 108, a sharp 16-point drop from the previous month. This decline is the largest in 3 years and 7 months since July 2022, when housing prices turned downward due to interest rate hikes and other factors.
However, despite the sharp decline, the index remains above the baseline of 100, showing that many people still expect housing prices to rise one year from now compared to the present. The Bank of Korea also explained, "It is necessary to monitor market conditions to see how long and to what extent consumer expectations regarding housing prices will affect actual supply and demand in the housing market."
The lack of clear supply measures is influencing the persistent sentiment of rising real estate prices. In the 'Housing Supply Expansion Plan' announced last September, the Lee Jae-myung administration presented a plan to supply 1.35 million units by 2030. Furthermore, in January of this year, it proposed a goal to supply 60,000 units in urban centers through the 'Urban Housing Supply Expansion and Acceleration Plan'.
However, many of the sites designated for supply by the Lee Jae-myung administration—such as the Yongsan International Business District, Taereung CC, and Yongsan Camp Kim, as well as smaller plots like the Seoul Medical Center site and the Bangi-dong complex building site—overlap with those announced for future supply by the Moon Jae-in administration. This has led to concerns that the real estate policy failures of the Moon administration, which failed to deliver supply in these areas, are being repeated.
In Korea, while the population is decreasing annually due to low birth rates and an aging society, there is an inverse phenomenon where the number of households is increasing due to factors like the rise of single-person households. As the demand for housing grows despite the population decline, housing supply is critical. According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Korea's registered population stood at 51.11 million as of January this year, a decrease of 100,000 compared to the same month last year.
The registered population peaked at 51.85 million in 2020 (as of January), and has since decreased every year: 51.83 million in 2021, 51.63 million in 2022, 51.43 million in 2023, 51.31 million in 2024, and 51.21 million in 2025. The population of Seoul also fell from 9.38 million in 2024 to 9.33 million last year, and further dropped to 9.30 million this year.
Despite this population decline, the number of registered households is steadily increasing. From 22.51 million in 2020, the number of registered households grew to 23.14 million in 2021, 23.50 million in 2022, 23.72 million in 2023, and 23.92 million in 2024, eventually surpassing 24 million last year with 24.12 million households. The upward trend continued this year, reaching 24.31 million households, an increase of 190,000 from the previous year.
As more people live in independent households apart from their families, such as single-person households, rising housing prices will be inevitable if supply is not met for them. In particular, in the case of Seoul, despite the population decline, the number of registered households increased from 4.47 million in 2024 to 4.48 million in 2025, and reached 4.50 million this year.