Govt to reveal locations for new suburbs around Seoul this week

The South Korean government will later this week disclose the candidate sites for new suburban development, a move aimed to ease the housing shortage in and around Seoul and tame the city's runaway housing prices.

The two probable locations are in northern and southern areas of Gyeonggi Province, with each to house 20,000 to 30,000, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Monday.

In September, the ministry said it would create four to five 3.3-million-square-meter mini suburbs to accommodate up to 200,000 households. The latest measure to increase housing supply is a follow-up to a slew of government measures aimed to dampen demand through higher taxes and tightened loan and trade restrictions.

Possible host districts are said to be Gwangmyeong, Seongnam, Siheung, Hanam and Namyangju.

The ministry is also expected to announce a roadmap for a public transport system connecting the new suburban areas, including the high-speed rail network GTX.

The government has been developing housing in the Seoul metropolitan area since the 1990s to alleviate housing demand in the densely populated capital. The first round of development created cities like Bundang and Ilsan, followed by Pangyo, Gwanggyo and Wirye in the 2000s.

Seoul has a population of about 10 million people. The sprawling metropolitan area is even larger at 25.6 million and is home to roughly half of the country’s total population.

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