PoliticsLee Jae Myung

President Lee Sells Seongnam Apartment for 2.9 Billion Won After Five Months on the Market

The presidential office said Lee Jae Myung was under no obligation to sell his only home and did so to demonstrate commitment to the administration's real estate policy. Ownership transferred on July 17.

By Korea First StaffPublished July 20, 20263 min read

President Lee Jae Myung and First Lady Kim Hea Kyung seated together at a table decorated with flowers during an official event · Source: Yonhap

President Lee Jae Myung and First Lady Kim Hea Kyung have sold their apartment in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, for 2.9 billion won, about 1.96 million dollars. Ownership transferred on July 17 after the property spent five months on the market, having been listed in February.

The reasoning

Cheong Wa Dae said Lee had no obligation to sell, since it was his only home and therefore outside the scope of policies aimed at owners of multiple properties. The office said he acted to demonstrate his commitment to realising the administration's real estate normalisation policy, the effort to bring housing prices under control.

That is the political point of the sale. A president asking the public to accept measures designed to cool the property market carries a weaker case while holding an asset that benefits from the market staying hot.

The financing

One detail complicates the clean break. The buyers took a mortgage of 1.78 billion won with the president and first lady acting as the lenders, and are due to pay the outstanding balance around October. The couple have transferred the title but retain a financial interest in the property until that payment is made.

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