◀ Journalist ▶
Here we are, reporter Je Eun-hyo from the social team.
This is where I am, Hwagok-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, where low houses are concentrated.
The alleys that wind through the residential areas behind me are owned by hundreds of people.
They came here with the aim of redeveloping Seoul called “Moa Town”, but they say this area is not even a development zone.
Anyway, let’s go now.
◀ Report ▶
The red brick villas are crowded together.
The road is narrow enough to allow even a single vehicle to pass and is uphill in many places.
Three lots in an alley in this neighborhood, approximately 4,000 m2, have been owned by a family since 1972.
However, two years ago, eight companies, including a real estate auction company, bought this land for 2.96 billion won and sold it to 263 people within a month or two for 9.64 billion won, more than three times the price.
The profits made by eight companies amounted to 6.6 billion won.
4 lots, 2,440㎡, in an alley in Songjeong-dong, Seongdong-gu, were similarly sold to 160 people at almost double the price.
What these two places, Hwagok-dong and Songjeong-dong, have in common is that a Moa Town site is located nearby.
As a result of MBC’s analysis of land transaction data in Seoul from 2022 to 2023, 19 locations where split sales took place were discovered in the area around Moatown.
The total area is 13,453㎡ and there are 959 investors.
We asked the buyers why they bought the alley next door, which was not the target site for Moa Town.
[60대 여성/화곡동 도로 10㎡ 구매 (음성변조)]
“<몇 배 정도 오를 거래요?> At the time, I said it about 10 times more often. I thought it wouldn’t be long, 5-6 years…”
There were also people who purchased the area after being tricked into thinking it was a Moa Town target site.
[50대 여성/화곡동 도로 20㎡ 구매 (음성변조)]
″I think they did it because they thought it was Moa Town. Isn’t this Moa Town? So there’s nothing here?”
Most of them were small investors who had difficulty purchasing apartments or villas due to insufficient funds.
[50대 남성/화곡동 도로 10㎡ 구매 (음성변조)]
«Because I have no money. It hasn’t been long since the coronavirus epidemic broke out. I simply trusted the company and invested.″
We went to the address to ask the real estate company that sold them the alley for an explanation.
Most of them couldn’t meet because it was a shared office, and the entrepreneurs they met didn’t give up on their claims that it was a profitable location.
The company that sold the land in Songjeong-dong also stressed that there were no problems, saying: “We sold a place with an investment value at 1.5 times the purchase price, so our profits are low compared to to other companies”.
However, experts point out that it is not easy to see actual benefits.
[조정흔/경실련 토지주택위원장]
″If you look at estate planning companies, these are people who make things that are easy to sell. Just divide (one piece) and make it worth about 30 million won or 40 million won. As the amount increases, it becomes difficult to sell.”
Meanwhile, in response to yesterday’s MBC report that there were other “Moatown alley split transactions” in eight autonomous districts that were not disclosed even after a thorough investigation by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the Seoul Metropolitan Government Seoul announced today: “If illegal activities by royals are discovered in real estate companies, we will actively respond, including by filing complaints.” .
I’m Je Eun-hyo from MBC News.
Video reporting: Ji-eun Han, Jun-ha Lee / Video editing: Yu-bin Heo
#area #Moatown #divided #homeowners #people
