‘강남집값’이 그동안 국내에서는 떠들썩했어도,외국 언론에까지 등장하는 일은 드물었는데, 오늘 ‘강남집값’ 과 관련 된 기사가한꺼번에 2건이나외신에 등장했더군요. 하나는 싱가포르 대표신문’스트레이츠 타임즈’에 실렸고, 다른 하나는 미 ‘워싱턴 포스트’지 한국의 집값 관련기사에등장했습니다. 같은날 동시에 2건의 외신이실린 것 자체가흔치는않은 일입니다.
특히 싱가포르 스트레이츠타임즈는 <한국인들은 ‘강남 집주소’ 하나를 얻기 위해서 살아간다…> 라는 좀 자극적 제목을 달아놨네요.맞습니다.보통의한국인들이라면평생 아파트 한채 마련해 보려고 살아가는 식이고, 그보다형편이 좋은 사람들은 강남지역에 집 한채 마련해 보려고 평생 살아가고 있는지도 모를 일입니다.
살아가기 위한 공간으로서집을 마련해야 하는 것이 아니고, 집 한채 마련하려고 평생 부대끼며 살아야 한다는것은 비극적 상황입니다. 한국의 집값, 특히 거품 뽀글뽀글한지역의 집값.. .지금보다최소한 20-30% 이상 빠져도 괜찮다고 생각합니다.’거품’이 끼었다면당연히 빠져야지요…
참여정부가 집값 한번 잡아보려고 칼 빼든정책은 잘한 일입니다.시작부터너무 고삐를 당겨놓아서, <강하면 부러질까…>…끝까지일관되게 밀고 갈 수 있을런지 그게 걱정이긴 하지만, 일단비정상적으로 펑튀기 된 집값들 어떻게든 제자리로 돌려놓겠다는 정책은 잘한 것으로 보고 있습니다.비정상적으로 오르기만 했던 집값에 대해반전의 계기가 꼭 필요했고,정책의 기본 방향에서 맞다고 보고 있기 때문이지요.앞으로 그 운용에서 원래 취지대로 잘해 주길 바랍니다.
The Straits Times(10월 1일자)
What South Koreans live for: a Gangnam address;
posh Seoul district a symbol of the growing rich-poor divide in the country
BYLINE: Lee Tee Jong , South Korea Correspondent
MADAM Kim Min Joo is looking frantically for a new apartment in Seoul’s Gangnam area. Never mind that it may cost her three times more than her current home. It is all worth it for the sake of her son, who is due to enter high school next year, said the 48-year-old housewife.
For parents with school-going children, Gangnam, which is located south of the Han River, is the place to live as it is home to reputable high schools that produce an exceptionally large number of students who make it to top universities. Admission rules require applicants to be living in the schools’ vicinity to be eligible.
‘Gangnam has a better academic environment and will enhance my son’s chances of entering a good university,’ said Madam Kim, who lives in Gangbuk, on the other side of the Han River. Gangnam, dubbed South Korea’s ‘rich man’s land’, has come to be associated with status, wealth and high culture.
Service apartments, plastic surgery clinics, expensive boutiques and skyscrapers housing multinational companies line the streets. On the eight-lane roads, Mercedes-Benz and BMW sedans seem to outnumber domestic makes such as Hyundai or Kia.
In Gangnam, an apartment the size of a four-room Housing Board flat costs about US$700,000 (S$1.2 million), close to three times the price of a similar one in Gangbuk, which is mainly a residential neighbourhood with fewer amenities.Mr Lee Tae Sook, a stockbroker, said: ‘This is the place to be seen and heard. Clients view us more favourably when they realise our location.’
In a way, the Han River which divides Gangnam and Gangbuk symbolises South Korea’s rich-poor gap which has widened over the past three decades. In May, the government released figures showing that the top 10 per cent of income-earners make about 7.8 million won (S$13,000) a month, 18 times that of the bottom 10 per cent.
Official statistics also show that 5 per cent of the population own 80 per cent of the private land in the country. Gangnam has come a long way since the early 1970s, when the government started transforming its padi fields into Seoul’s first modern residential district to spur the economy.
It built apartment complexes and gave priority to government officials to buy the units. Those who bought land in Gangnam before it was developed are now millionaires. ‘The infrastructure at Gangnam is better than Gangbuk as the government paid more attention to developing it,’ real estate agent Choi Soong Jae told The Straits Times.
Easy access to government agencies, schools and offices has sent land prices in Gangnam shooting up from 90 won per sq m in 1966 to the present 15 million won per sq m.
The stark contrast between Gangnam and Gangbuk has bred resentment. Last year, one high school student stabbed another to death after being called Gangbuk-nyeon, a derogatory term for Gangbuk teenagers. Ms Kim Ji Ae, who teaches at a Gangbuk high school, said: ‘Gangnam students think that our students are country bumpkins while my students view the other party as snobs. The division is felt even at the teachers’ level.’
The disparity between the two areas has also spawned fashion terms such as Gangnam munhwa or culture, which implies sophistication, and Gangbuk munhwa, which is used to describe dowdy dress sense. Concerns over the social divide make no impression on many South Koreans, however. Like Madam Kim, a Gangnam address remains their goal.
– leeteejong-
The Washington Post (10월1일 기사)
Price of Housing Soars in S. Korea;
Government Tries to Cool Down Market
BYLINE: Sangim Han and Heejin Koo, Bloomberg News
Lee Hyun Jung walked out of a real estate office in Seoul’s affluent Gangnam district thinking she had found her $450,000 dream home. A week later the asking price for the 1,173-square-foot apartment had jumped $10,000. The owner then took it off the market because smaller properties in the building were selling for $500,000.
Welcome to Seoul’s surging property market.
Prices of apartments in Gangnam, home to Gucci Group NV and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd. stores, rose nearly 20 percent in the first half of 2005, as record-low borrowing costs spurred a 12 percent increase in home loans."Friends who live in Gangnam have seen their apartment prices jump," said Lee, a 37-year-old mother of two who lives in Mapo, north of the river that bisects Seoul. "It’s not fair that their property prices jump, just because they’re in Gangnam."
In an effort to curb speculation, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun more than doubled taxes for owners of the priciest properties and raised levies on profits from selling real estate. Analysts and academics say the measures may fail to restrain prices in Asia’s third-biggest economy, where the total land value is twice that of Canada, a country 100 times South Korea’s size.
"Property prices have surged," said Park Won Am, a professor of international trade at Hongik University in Seoul. "It’s a big question mark whether the policies would drag prices back to earlier levels." Roh’s government is seeking to chip away at a landowning structure in which 1 percent of the nation’s households own a third of the nation’s land.
Homeowners buying multiple apartments, sometimes under their spouse’s or children’s names, spurred a doubling in value of the index tracking construction stocks in the past year, the best performance among industry groups in Korea. A 101-pyong (3,584-square-foot) apartment in the Gangnam Tower Palace complex is changing hands for 4.15 billion won ($4 million), according to Tower Palace Real Estate, a 66 percent increase from November 2002 when the block was built.
For that money, owners get a fingerprint-scanning entry system and 24-hour security patrol as well as a pool, sauna, fitness center and banquet room. The government says speculative gains are discouraging corporate investment and making individuals reluctant to spend.
Orders for machinery slumped 12 percent in June from a year earlier, the fifth consecutive decline, while consumer confidence fell for a fourth month in July, official figures show. Roh’s government on July 14 cut its forecast for economic growth this year to 4 percent from 5 percent.
"Money doesn’t flow into productive areas of the economy because of a boom in the property market," Ahn Byong Yub, a lawmaker in charge of the ruling Uri party’s real estate policy planning team, said on Aug. 19. "Without bursting property bubbles, the nation’s economy is likely to face another round of crisis as it did during 1997-98."
Home prices slumped as much as 45 percent in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. analysts Paul Rhee and Kim Suhr Hee wrote in an Aug. 24 report. The relaxation of controls allowed owners to charge market prices in February 1998, spurring a revival in prices, they said.
Under the new rules, owners with two or more apartments valued at $2.2 million will pay $26,530 in taxes by 2009, up from $9,700 this year, according to the finance ministry. Taxes will more than double for homeowners reaping big profits from selling a second home after three years, the ministry said.
"Property speculation is finished," Han Duck Soo, the country’s finance and economy minister, said at a briefing on Aug. 31. Still, the government’s policies are undermined by the Bank of Korea’s reluctance to raise borrowing costs. Central bank governor Park Seung said on Aug. 11 that higher rates shouldn’t be used to cool rising property prices. The Bank of Korea left its key interest rate at an all-time low of 3.25 percent for a ninth straight month in August to spur investment.
The nation’s land value climbed 19 percent in the year ended April 30, according to the construction ministry’s survey of taxable land."Many people and companies are addicted to the misconception that property prices won’t decline," said analyst Kang Kyeong Hoon, a research fellow at the Korea Institute of Finance. "Until this is broken, it’s hard to expect record-low rate policies to generate the effects that the government targets."
Roh, who reached the midpoint of his five-year term last week, made curbing speculation one of his key goals. In October 2003, he imposed taxes of as much as 60 percent on profits reaped by homeowners who held more than three properties. Still, apartment prices in Gangnam rose as much as 18 percent in the first six months of this year, according to the Korea Housing Institute’s survey of 239 real estate agents. Prices of similar properties north of the Han River rose 8 percent or less in the same period.
"The government should show its commitment to reining in property speculation and channel the money" to productive areas of the economy, Kang said. "It can generate a shock, which may be necessary to channel funds in a positive direction." Roh’s government this week also told banks to stop customers from taking out home loans in their spouse’s or children’s names to deter buyers from circumventing ownership taxes.
About 5 percent of households own two or more apartments, houses and flats in Korea, according to the home affairs ministry, while 45.4 percent of households, defined as families or single wage earners, rent their property. Home buyer Lee said she’s can’t purchase her dream home, so she is trying to boost the value of her existing apartment, which is 10 percent larger and on a higher floor than the Gangnam flat.
Lee and her neighbors meet twice a month to discuss ways to "revalue" their apartments to match flats across the river in Gangnam, including agreements not to sell below a certain price.
"The agent told me that the owners don’t want to sell anymore," Lee said about the Gangnam apartment. "They want to see how high the prices will go."
권혁선 (
아아거 (
오현기 (
971
2005년 10월 3일 at 12:13 오후
강남집값 내리는 밥법은 간단하죠. 어느 말많으신분이 강남집값 올리겠다 하면 됩니다.
noonoo
2005년 10월 3일 at 8:17 오후
기자님 생각에 전적으로 찬성합니다.
외신에서 보다시피 한국, 특히 강남 부동산 정말 정상이 아닌 거 확실하자나여?
여기가 북한조선 같은 ‘따로 공화국’입니까?
우리끼리 살 거 아니자나여…
그럼 국제 평균으로는 맞춰야져.
지금 기사내용 보더라도요,
맨처음 외신이 주목한 건
로무현이 왜 택스를 그렇게 많이 갑자기 올렸느냐 ,
하는 거부터 들여다보기 시작한 거자나여.
기사 결론은
비정상적인 가격을 유지하기 위한 오너들의 괴이한 연대에 대해 꼬집고 있구요.
밖에 얘기 들어보면 남한이나 북한이나 정상이 아닌게 많다는 거여요.
고쳐야지요. 안그런가요?
기자님 말씀이 백번 천번 지당하시고 가장 균형 잡힌 시각이라고 생각합니다.
조선일보 볼만해요^^
꾸벅.
종이등불
2005년 10월 4일 at 6:15 오전
참여정부가 집값 한번 잡아보려고 칼 빼든 정책은 잘한 일입니다. 시작부터 너무 고삐를 당겨놓아서, <강하면 부러질까…>… 끝까지 일관되게 밀고 갈 수 있을런지 그게 걱정이긴 하지만, 일단 비정상적으로 펑튀기 된 집값들 어떻게든 제자리로 돌려 놓겠다는 정책은 잘한 것으로 보고 있습니다. 비정상적으로 오르기만 했던 집값에 대해 반전의 계기가 꼭 필요했고, 정책의 기본 방향에서 맞다고 보고 있기 때문이지요. 앞으로 그 운용에서 원래 취지대로 잘해 주길 바랍니다.
저 역시 오기자님의 생각과 같습니다.
이미 우리는 그 심각성을 알고 있었지만
외신에서 다룰 정도였다니
강남 부동산 가격이 얼마나 비정상적인지
다시 한 번 확인합니다.
누누님의 블로그에서 오현기 기자님의 글흔적을 발견하고
이 곳으로 왔답니다.
오현기님의 인품을 글로써 이미 알고 있기에……
참 아름다운 보수라고 생각하고 있거든요.
금연(禁煙)
2005년 10월 4일 at 9:42 오후
강남 집값만 비정상이라면…서초나 분당에 살믄될텐데…
여기서 강남은…강남구가 아니지요…
미국사는 친구가 사진을 보냈는데…
50만불 주택이…내가 보기엔..유명인들사는 저택으로 보이는것은 왜일까..
문제는…풀을건드려 뱀을 놀라게 하는기술이 필요한데…
부족해진 세수를 메우는 수단으로..강남을 희생양 삼은것 아니냐는이야기다..
쓰지도 못하는땅에 세금은 겁나 물리고…
여기팔어 저기 사도 마찬가지인..그런 형국이니..
차라리 공급을 늘려서…수요를 감당하는것이 어떨런지..
방법이 틀렷지요…
앞세운것은 마음에 들지만..뒤에든 칼이 애꿎은 서민들의 목만 죄고 있으니…
기업의 투자를 늘려..세수를 채워야지…
부동산을 턱없이 올려 놓고…..
누구를 위한 정책인지…
강남에 사는 인구가 몇이나 되는지…
그걸 핑계로 …세금왕창 올려서 누굴 죽이려는것인지…
결국……다 죽는거지요…
기업이나 살려서…일자리나 만들지요..
딴데 쓰지말고..세금 말입니다..
noonoo
2005년 10월 4일 at 11:20 오후
헉!
아파트가 무슨 골동품도 아닌다음에야…
햐아…오현기님 천재시다…^)^
음…맞어, 아파트가 무슨 골똥품이냠…ㅡ.ㅡ?;;
금연님도 영재!
풀을 건드려 뱀을 놀라게 하는 기술~!!! 캬아~ (이것두 받아적짜 ㅡ.ㅡ )
종이등불님은 귀재!
결론은
.
.
.
아름다운 보수 만쉐! ↖(ㅇ.ㅇ)↗
내 집 마련 하구 잪따요 ㅡ.ㅡ 흑흑.
오현기
2005년 10월 4일 at 11:24 오후
여기 있어야 할 포스팅이 아닌데 왜 여기까지 온거지? 아무튼 그건 그렇고……
종이등불님…..
‘아름다운 보수’란 것이 뭔지는 잘 모르겠지만, 저를 그 틀 속에 가두려 하지 마세요. 틀속에 갇혀지내자면 숨이 컥컥 막힙니다. ^^ 틀속에 파묻혀서 다른 어느 것도 보려하지 않는 사람들에게 때로 ‘경멸’을 보내기도 한답니다.
그리고 금연님…… 전 또 4일쨉니다. 그리고 강남 집값은 더 내려야 합니다. 강남에 직장이 있어서 강남에서 시작했던 제 친구는 지금 저보다 3배나 나가는 집을 가지고 있더군요. 앞으로 제 봉급 다 긁어 모아도 그런 집 못가져 봅니다. 차곡차곡 불려나간 것이 아니고, 강남이라는 이유로 그렇게 올랐습니다. 강남이 지역여건이 좋은 것은 당연하고, 그래서 집값도 더 나가야 하는 것도 인정하지만, 너무 턱없이 올랐다면 당연히 내려야 합니다. 아파트가 무슨 ‘골동품’도 아닌 다음에야 부르는 게 값이 되어서는 곤란하지요.
오현기
2005년 10월 4일 at 11:26 오후
누누님이 천재십니다. 제 포스팅을 미리 예측하고 무슨 얘기가 나올 것인지 미리 알고 글을 올렸잖아요. ^^