If you look closely at the two loan programs the government introduced to provide a 'housing ladder' for young people, you will find that the types of homes young people most commonly live in are excluded from the list, and the neighborhoods where they most frequently reside are subject to higher costs.
According to the National Assembly Budget Office on the 5th, the Financial Services Commission has allocated 59.66 billion won for the 'Youth Future Bogeumjari Loan' and 28.616 billion won for the 'Youth Jeonse/Monthly Rent Combined Guarantee' for next year. The Youth Future Bogeumjari Loan is a policy mortgage that supports first-time homebuyers aged 39 or younger in purchasing non-apartment properties (villas and officetels with a dedicated area of 85㎡ or less) priced at 400 million won or less. While the Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio can reach up to 80%, apartments, which are in high demand among young people, are excluded. The Budget Office pointed out, "Since 96.7% of the general Bogeumjari loan amount supplied to the youth demographic last year was used for apartment purchases, there is insufficient justification for excluding apartments in the same price range from support." During the parliamentary audit, Representative Choi Eun-seok of the People Power Party also warned, "If houses cannot be sold and loans remain, and you cannot move even when getting married or changing jobs, it becomes a 'housing trap' rather than a 'housing ladder'."
The alternative offered by the Financial Services Commission is the existing Bogeumjari loan. However, the threshold for this will rise by 0.1 percentage points starting on the 9th. The base interest rate for the 'Akkim-e Bogeumjari Loan' will be 5.00% (10-year maturity) to 5.30% (50-year maturity), entering the 5% range for the first time since March 2014. For borrowers buying homes in major areas of Seoul and Gyeonggi, rates of 5.2% to 5.5% will apply. In a structure that promises 'monthly rent-level principal and interest payments' to asset-poor youth, those who choose apartments are forced to bear interest costs higher than monthly rent.
Regional discrimination also remains. The Youth Jeonse/Monthly Rent Combined Guarantee, which guarantees semi-jeonse (monthly rent with a large deposit), provides an interest subsidy of 2 percentage points for the capital region and 3 percentage points for non-capital regions to youth with an annual income of 30 million won or less. For those in the 50 million to 70 million won annual income bracket, residents in the capital region are excluded entirely, while only non-capital region youth receive a 1 percentage point subsidy. The Financial Services Commission cited the 2024 Housing Survey, noting that the disposable income excluding housing costs for youth in rural areas (29.72 million won) is lower than that in the capital region (32.73 million won). However, the rent for young people who remain in the capital region due to jobs and studies is much higher than in rural areas. On real estate online communities, reactions such as "It's a crime to have moved to Seoul because there were no jobs" have been pouring in.
If the purpose of policy finance is housing stability, the standard should be the money that young people actually pay, not administrative districts. If the government excluded apartments due to limited resources, the answer should be to increase supply by easing regulations, not just increasing the budget. Who decided the criteria for benefits based on residence, and what statistics were used? Those who designed the policy must answer for the fact that a single criterion can change a young person's choice of residence and the timing of their marriage.
