For Continuous Housing Supply

Korea National Housing Corp. strives to build 70,000 housing units a year

Korea National Housing Corp. is likely to sell its apartments in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, at prices about 1 million won per pyeong lower than other apartments in the same city built by private builders, heating up arguments for the appropriate pricing for the newly-built apartments in the city.
According to the Ministry of Construction and Transportation and KNHC, 5,844 apartment units with the size of below 25.7 pyeong, KNHC will put on sale 2,184 housing units at the price of 11 million won per pyeong. The price is about 1 million won per pyeong cheaper than those built by 10 private builders in the area including Pungsong Construction and Kunyong Construction. The prices quoted by those builders ranged from 12 million won and 12.88 million won per pyeong. Housing experts said that the price put up by the KNHC could be too low, although it does not have to pay taxes on its land purchases, bringing its land prices on the same level as those bought by private builders.
Housing related personnel who toured the apartments to be put on sale by KNHC said they looked as good as those built by private builders in every aspect including interior decoration, the design and the location of land, which would make the determination of pricing more complicated.
KNHC will determine the price of those apartments around March 22 in consultation with MOCT. Korea National Housing Corp. has a plan to build 70,000 housing units a year in accordance with the government policy to accomplish a housing supply rate of 100 percent.
KNHC is maintaining the reserved land to about 30 million m2 per year to build 70,000 housing units and the rest are carried over for the construction in the following years.
KNHC computerized the data on potential development areas across the country. It has been taking various measures to secure land such as the purchase of land developed by other agencies, joint development with local governments, reservation of development-restricted greenzone for national rental housing, and utilization of small housing lots.
The rental houses built and provided by KNHC are managed by New Housing Co., an affiliate company that specializes in housing management. KNHC has been making much efforts to provide high-quality and efficient management services for the resident's satisfaction.
The affiliate has a main office and 12 branch offices around the country. Main office is in charge of housing sales and management division, in addition to drawing up a master plan for management and maintenance. The company also has the housing sales and management dept. to take care of maintenance of houses built by KNHC around the country.
KNHC operates maintenance information system to repair any small defects without delay. Through a maintenance circuit visit system, by which staff visit newly-occupied houses to meet any complaints and defects, KNHC makes efforts to provide customer with better after-sales services for their satisfaction.
The management fee paid by the residents is categorized into legal terms and actual expenses. Management costs for each item are calculated and paid at the end of each month. In order to reduce the residents'financial burden, the salary for the management officers is paid by KNHC.
By introducing and continuously building apartment housing as a new type of residence, KNHC has played the leading role in changing housing culture from detached houses to apartment houses in Korea.
KNHC has also introduced the rental housing as a new housing ownership type and has been building the rental houses to solidify the base of residential welfare and stability for low income people.
KNHC was established on July 1, 1962, and it built the first apartment complex in Korea in Mapo, Seoul. It developed a large housing lots around the country including 1.3 million m2 in Hwagok-dong, Seoul in 1965. In 1971, KNHC built the first rental housing in Korea followed by Banpo apartment complex with 7,906 units. The government-run company also built Jamsil apartment complex with 19,180 units in Seoul. nw

(right photo) KNHC President Han Haeng-soo.
A view of the planned new Paju City.