The night of March 9 marked the closet election in modern South Korean history as exit polls had predicted, defying expectations that it was a clear win for now President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol.
But when results of ballot counting in the richest areas in southeastern Seoul — Gangnam, Seocho and Songpa — started to come in, the balance began to tip in favor of Yoon. In Gangnam and Secoho, he carried over 67 and 65 percent of the vote, respectively. In the end, Seoul turned red, which is the color of Yoon’s People Power Party, as Yoon beat rival Lee Jae-myung by nearly 5 percent.
The win in Seoul was seen as a clear sign of rejection of the current administration’s housing policy that has failed to control home prices. Over 1 in 5 voters picked “stability in the housing market” as the most important issue for the next administration to address, according to an exit poll by KBS, MBC and SBS.
Speaking to the press on March 21, Rep. Ko Young-in of the Democratic Party of Korea said failure to control housing prices had influenced the outcome.
“Those in their 30s among which the party had a lead used all their capital to buy a property. Yet (our) efforts to lower housing prices have placed a burden on them. And for those who have yet to buy a property became hopeless and desperate as housing prices went up,” he said.
“Whether you have bought a home or not, a lot of supporters in their 30s who are most sensitive about this issue left our party which we accepted with a heavy heart.”
To many analysts, Yoon’s win in the rich neighborhoods did not come as a surprise. After all, the main conservative People Power Party has often had the backing of affluent communities. During the 2021 by-election, conservative Seoul mayoral candidate Oh Se-hoon won in the three aforementioned neighborhoods with a big margin. During the 18th presidential election in 2012, ex-President Park Geun-hye, a conservative candidate, won five districts in Seoul including Seocho, Gangnam and Yongsan while incumbent President Moon Jae-in won in the rest of the capital.
But many of those who do not own a home also voted for Yoon.
“Rich people in Gangnam and those with multiple homes were hit by heavy taxation (under the Moon administration) so their votes can be easily explained away in terms of tax,” said Park Hap-soo, an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Real Estate Studies at Konkuk University.
“But those who do not own a home also cast the backlash vote because housing prices went up as a result of a failed housing policy.”
Mixed with other economic issues such as job shortages, voters turned their back on the incumbent Democratic Party of Korea, he explained.
At first glance, it seems puzzling that those living in semibasement apartments seen in the film “Parasite” and homeowners in the rich Gangnam area famed for the 2012 song “Gangnam Style” voted for the same candidate who called for low taxes and easing regulations.
But the current administration’s failed attempts to stabilize the housing market through what is known as the “three tenants’ laws” — introduced by the Democratic Party in 2020 intended to improve tenants’ rights — ended up uniting people across the class divide against the government, said professor Jang Hee-Soon at the Department of Real Estate at Kangwon National University.
“The current government’s housing policy caused the market to move in a direction opposite to their intention, adding to the anxiety around housing instability even among people who live in the apartments seen in ‘Parasite,’”
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