President Sohn Tae-rak of Korea Real Estate Board gives his inaugural speech at an inauguration ceremony at the board headquarters in Daegu on Feb. 26.

Former deputy minister Sohn Tae-rak of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) took office as new president of Korea Real Estate Board on Feb. 26.

Sohn’s inauguration ceremony, held at the board headquarters in Daegu, was broadcasted live online to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sohn is considered to be a seasoned real estate expert as he has held major posts related to land, housing policies as well as construction and urban affairs, including deputy minister in charge of housing and land and deputy minister in charge of territorial and urban development.

In his inaugural speech, Sohn said, “Korea Real Estate Board will ponder ways of raising public trust toward posted prices of real estate as well as preciseness and timeliness of real estate stats to level up its standing.”

He revealed a plan to overhaul the posted price evaluation system using ICT and Geographical Information System (GIS) technologies and upgrade survey and an analysis systems by expanding samples of housing statistics.

The board will offer support to build a fair and transparent real estate market and ramp up roles to protect consumer rights of the real estate market, Sohn said. He said his board will work out ways to invigorate the regional economy and create quality jobs.

President Sohn said his board will revamp the way responsibilities are carried out in accordance with rapidly changing social conditions and explore new growth engines.

The board will devote itself of becoming one that is trusted by people and a top-tier real estate institution, he said.

Sohn graduated from Kyungpook National University Public Administration Department and obtained a master’s degree from the university and a doctorate degree in public administration from Kachun University.

He passed the 31st higher administrative examination. H also served as president of Seoul-Moon Expressway Co. His term is three years.

A view of Korea Real Estate Board headquarters in Daegu. (Photos: Korea Real Estate Board)

Seoul Apartment Price Hikes Slow for 5th Consecutive Week

Seoul’s apartment price growth slowed for the fifth consecutive week in the wake of the government’s Feb. 4 policy of supplying apartments and fears of U.S.-led interest hikes.

Apartment price hikes in the Seoul metropolitan area slowed, but those in the GTX lines continued to surge.

Korea Real Estate Board said on March 11 that the apartment transaction prices across the nation rose 0.24 percent in the second week of March, the same as the previous week.

Apartment price hikes in the Seoul metropolitan area declined from 0.29 percent last week to 0.28 percent this week.

Seoul’s prices rose 0.07 percent, the same level of the previous week, while those in Gyeonggi-do and Incheon rose 0.38 percent and 0.39 percent, a 0.02 percentage point drop and a 0.02 percentage point decline from the previous week, respectively.