- City, counties, and districts join efforts to crack down on false transaction reports, collusion, and up-and-down contracts -

Incheon Metropolitan City (Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok) announced that it held a joint policy meeting of city, counties, and districts on March 10 to address disruptive real estate practices in 2026.

Recent gains in home prices and rising transaction volume in parts of Seoul and Gyeonggi have raised concerns about market instability across the Seoul Metropolitan Area. Incheon’s housing price growth in February stood at 0.09%, lower than Gyeonggi’s 0.54%. Even so, prices have continued to rise for 4 straight months, prompting a preemptive response to potential market overheating.

The meeting was held to devise measures to prevent the spread of the upward trend in home prices seen in Seoul and Gyeonggi into Incheon. Another goal was to keep the local real estate market from following the same pattern, helping maintain stability.

Officials at the meeting took a broad look at the government’s real estate policy direction, response trends in other local governments, and market conditions in Incheon. They also discussed response measures for disruptive real estate practices in 2026 with officials from counties and districts in Incheon.

Main measures included regular response meetings on illegal real estate practices, tighter monitoring and more detailed investigations of suspicious real estate transaction reports, coordinated investigations with related agencies when illegal collusion is reported or detected, enhanced training for licensed real estate agents on maintaining orderly transaction practices, and wider public awareness of the Center for Reporting Disturbance of Real Estate Transaction Order.

When signs of abnormal transactions are detected, including falsely reported sale prices (price inflation), housing price collusion, and up-and-down contracts, Incheon plans to conduct focused inspections in the relevant areas in cooperation with counties, districts, the National Police Agency, the Korea Real Estate Board, and other related agencies.

Incheon also plans to include related content in continuing education programs for licensed real estate agents, with about 5,000 participants expected this year, helping strengthen on-site response capacity. Public promotion on the Real Estate Market Disruption Reporting Center will also be expanded to encourage more reports of real estate crimes and illegal practices.

Incheon plans to focus its administrative capacity on preventing speculative transactions that threaten the housing stability of ordinary residents and raise housing costs.

Lee Won-ju, Director of the Urban Planning Bureau, stated, “This meeting will serve as an opportunity to further strengthen cooperation between the city, counties, and districts, while continuing to monitor market conditions closely and keep real estate transactions stable. We will also do our utmost to root out illegal practices that undermine orderly transaction at an early stage, helping create a sound and transparent real estate market.”