President Lee Jung-hwan of Korea Housing Finance Corp.(HF) speaks at a session of the parliamentary audit on Oct. 15, held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul. (Photo: National Assembly of the Republic of Korea)

President Lee Jung-hwan of Korea Housing Finance Corp. (HF) said his company set up in 2004 to develop the national economy by boosting the housing welfare for the people, and has been working hard to expand the safety network of the residential houses for the general public and stable livelihood for the senior citizens, which is consistent with the execution of diverse government policies.

Lee made the remarks before Chairman Rep. Min Byung-doo of the Political Affairs Committee of the National Assembly at a session of the Parliamentary Audit of Administration and State-run Corporations.

This year, the company introduced a tailor-made housing rental guarantee product and provided support to college students and youth entering society for the first time.

The company also strengthened its policy guarantee support to the public without their own houses and providing the lowest guarantee fee for those with housing problems, including the families with many children, those in need of social care, and those in need of credit recovery.

HF also boosted temporary loans to pay for the Housing Pension to reduce the repayment of the housing loans burdensome to those senior citizens.

The company also improved the convenience of using the Housing Pension by boosting the number of the financial institutions handling the pension, and allowing the rental of the mortgaged houses in exchange for the Housing Pension loans.

Most recently, HF launched the General Public-type Comfort Loans intended to improve the structures of the housing debts and reduce financial cost burdens.

In the days ahead, HF will do its best to improve housing conditions for the general public, the realization of public value.

The company has been offering the Policy Mortgage Loan, including the Nest or Bokumjari Loan, thru various financial institutions. The company released 10.762 trillion in loans thru the facility by Aug. 31 this year out of 18 trillion won in total loans targeted for release from the facility for this year.

As of Aug. 31, total housing mortgage loans made by banks totaled 634.8 trillion won and Nest Loans took up 9.7 percent of the housing mortgage lending by banks.

HF has also offered the Jeokkyuk, or Right Qualification Loan Facility, worth 4.685,1 trillion won in loans provided as of Aug. 31 out of 12 trillion won targeted to be released in 2019. The loans released from the facility came to 39 percent of the total targeted form the facility for this year.

Those who don’t have their own homes may qualify for a loan of up to 500 million won. Those who own a house with market value of below 900 million won, but conditional upon selling it depending on their financial obligations, are also entitled to the Right Qualification Loan.

The company has been in charge of the issue of the Fluidization Bonds and so far as of Aug. 31, 13.498,7 trillion won worth of the bonds were successfully issued at the market, coming to 45 percent of the targeted amount.

The company successfully issued 267 trillion won in bonds since its set up in 2004, contributing to stable supply of housing funds, spurring the long-term bond market and advancing the housing finance in Korea.

MBS (Mortgage Backed Securities) outstanding as of Aug. 31 came to 116 trillion won to emerge as one of the three largest securities in the domestic bond market, along with a national bond and currency stabilization bond.

HF has been handling the supply of the Housing Credit Guarantee for rental key money for both Wolsye (monthly lease) and Jonsye (a year or longer lease).

So far, the housing guarantees issued by HF came to 34.219,7 trillion won as of Aug. 31, coming to 84.8 percent of total targeted for this year, or 40.3 trillion won.

A view of the Busan International Financial Center in Busan where HF has offices. (Photo: HF)