This post is trending because it taps into widespread anxiety about housing affordability and availability in South Korea. Real estate is a highly sensitive and politically charged issue, with many feeling the pinch of rising costs and disappearing rental options due to recent government policies.
A heated discussion is erupting online in Korea as a viral post highlights a growing housing crisis: both *jeonse* and *wolse* rental options are vanishing, leaving many middle and working-class Koreans in a bind. The original poster argues that while *jeonse* is often criticized for fueling apartment speculation, even *wolse* (monthly rent) is becoming scarce, especially in areas with apartments priced around 1 billion KRW (roughly $750,000 USD). This leaves people who *must* live in specific regions for work or school with no viable options.
Even alternative housing like *officetels* and *villas*, which are typically more affordable than traditional apartments, are seeing their supply dwindle. The poster attributes this to government policies that discourage multi-home ownership, making landlords hesitant to register additional properties. They criticize the government's focus on high-end areas like Gangnam, arguing that the real crisis is unfolding in more accessible neighborhoods. With home purchase prices rising and rental options disappearing, many fear this autumn's moving season will bring an even more severe housing crunch than the 2021 *jeonse* crisis, questioning the wisdom of recent policy changes that impact capital gains tax exemptions.
🇰🇷 KOREAN REACTIONS 10
Honestly, the policy supporters seem more cruel than the opposition. They just tell people to get out if they can't afford it, without hesitation. At least pretend to care! They talk about sacrifice, but isn't that just admitting to class stratification by region and telling us to deal with it?
It's gotten harder for common people, but hey, at least they 'caught' Gangnam's housing prices, right? (link to article)
The Blue House advisors, ministers, lawmakers, high-ranking officials, real estate crash theorists, and professors all live in nice places and own multiple homes. They're not common folk.
If there's nothing, you gotta find somewhere that has it. What else can you do? People are just looking out for their own interests or waiting for the government to change, you can't blame them, but you also can't say the government's policies are bad because of it. Where are you trying to move that you can't find a place? I'm looking too, and there are places... I just don't have the money. What area are you looking in?
Jeonse used to make wolse cheaper, so if jeonse disappears, wolse will get more expensive, and naturally, supply will increase... I guess we're just becoming a 'developed country' now.
You're only looking at Seoul, but if you expand to Gyeonggi Province, there's still enough supply. If demand shifts to buying, where do houses go? Jeonse and wolse demand will also decrease.
If jeonse and wolse disappear, will buying prices just go up instead?
Just live somewhere else, duh.
The 2021 jeonse/wolse crisis stabilized after about 6 months, so chill. (link to report)
As many policy supporters have said, whether it's buying, jeonse, or wolse, people should just move according to their own abilities and the situation at the time.