Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on Sept. 19 blamed the government for the shrinking supply of jeonse rentals and sharply criticized current housing policy, arguing that property is the main reason for the president's declining approval. The governing side responded by pointing to the city's own record on supply management.
Oh said the capital's jeonse shortage was created by government policy. His diagnosis is that an excessive focus on owner-occupancy requirements produced the disappearance of jeonse listings.
광고 문의 · 300×250He also took issue with the president's use of the word leveling in describing housing policy, calling it irresponsible to summarize a situation in which prices have risen even in Seoul's northeastern and southwestern districts.
The mayor cited structural causes on the supply side as well, arguing that the removal of redevelopment and reconstruction designations under an earlier administration erased housing that could have been built, with effects that persist in today's imbalance.
Analysts attribute the decline in jeonse listings to overlapping factors: occupancy requirements and lending rules, landlord caution about deposit return risk, a preference for shifting to monthly rent, and the level of interest rates. That is why singling out one policy as the cause is difficult.
The fragility of the jeonse system
Jeonse is a uniquely Korean arrangement in which a large deposit substitutes for monthly rent. It lowers housing costs for tenants, but the deposit functions as an interest-free loan and is exposed to swings in prices and rates. When the market wobbles, delayed returns and guarantee claims rise together.
As conversion to monthly rent accelerates, household cash outlays increase. For young people and newlyweds with little accumulated capital, the structure of housing costs itself changes, which is why the debate runs hotter in lived experience than in the statistics.
What it means for ethnic Chinese tenants
A substantial share of ethnic Chinese households in Korea rent in Incheon and central Seoul. Foreign tenants sometimes face different conditions on jeonse loans and eligibility for deposit guarantee insurance, which can narrow their options further as the market shifts to monthly rent.
Households approaching renewal are safer checking a landlord's capacity to return the deposit and the order of claims on the property in advance. A fixed date stamp, resident registration and guarantee insurance are the first items examined when a dispute arises.
