Seoul, South Korea – The Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) has managed to meet its target of starting construction on 50,000 new homes this year, amid growing concerns over a housing shortage. However, a significant portion of these projects, amounting to 83%, have only been initiated on paper.

According to data submitted by LH to Rep. Lee Yeon-hee of the Democratic Party, as of December 20, the corporation had completed construction starts for 8,577 homes across 22 blocks. The remaining 41,550 units have had contractors selected and construction start dates designated.

A staggering 83% of the total 50,012 units, or 41,550 homes, are scheduled to commence construction within a mere six business days from December 20 to 31. Moreover, half of the target, 23,559 homes, are set to begin construction on the final day of the month. It's important to note that these are merely paper-based starts and do not signify the actual beginning of physical construction work on the ground.

Typically, LH finalizes its annual construction plan early in the year, focusing on land that has already undergone zoning, compensation, and land development. The subsequent processes of housing design and tendering can take up to ten months. Consequently, even with early-year planning, the actual start of construction often gets pushed back to the end of the year.

To address this issue, LH plans to finalize construction quotas earlier and commence the design phase more promptly than in previous years. Of the 60,000 homes slated for construction next year, 12,000 (20%) will begin construction by June, and 22,000 (37%) will be started by September.

Among the 50,000 homes under construction this year, 34,000 are "New Home" public rental units. The remaining 16,000 are public rental homes.

In terms of regional distribution, 26,000 homes will be constructed in the metropolitan area, with a significant portion, 24,793 units, allocated to Gyeonggi Province. Seoul and Incheon will see 18 and 1,323 units, respectively.

The non-metropolitan area accounts for the remaining 24,000 homes, with Daejeon leading with 4,685 units, followed by Sejong (2,823), Gyeongnam (2,482), and Ulsan (2,192).