By Jihoon Lee
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Thursday the government will ease property market regulations more quickly to stabilise the market amid high interest rates.
“As house prices are on a falling trend due to high interest rates, (the government) will lift regulations on the demand side at a faster pace for market stability,” Yoon said during a televised meeting to review the government’s policy objectives.
Following his remarks to the panel of 100 ordinary citizens, financial regulator chief Kim Joo-hyun said the government was planning to further allow mortgage loans for those who run lease businesses and multiple home-owners.
“It is very important for the property market to achieve a soft-landing. (The government) plans to lift loan regulations one by one,” Kim added.
South Korea’s property market is suffering the steepest price fall in at least two decades this year amid the central bank’s most aggressive rate hike cycle.
The Bank of Korea has raised its policy interest rate by a total of 275 basis points to a decade high of 3.25% since August last year, in an effort to tame surging inflation.
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Stephen Coates)
