The Korea Housing & Urban Guaranty Corporation (HUG) won the housing category grand prize at the 4th 2026 Korea Construction and Real Estate Industry Awards for its contribution to housing stability through guarantee operations and housing policy. HUG has gathered input from the industry and worked out support measures to back the government's push to expand housing supply. It also plans to expand public guarantees for housing projects to 100 trillion won ($70 billion) a year and widen the scope of its project financing (PF) loan guarantees.
In March, HUG met with the housing construction industry and agreed to lower guarantee thresholds while making its support more effective. At a meeting with HUG, the chairmen of the Korea Housing Builders Association and its regional chapters asked for improvements to housing construction guarantees, including presale guarantees, PF guarantees, redevelopment project guarantees and special guarantees for urban housing. HUG said it would improve its rental guarantee system, as small and mid-sized builders have run into difficulties in securing jeonse (a lump-sum deposit lease) and rental guarantees amid a slump in regional housing markets. It also pledged tailored support, such as continuing to expand special PF guarantees for smaller builders.
When builders complained in April of funding strains from rising material costs during the Middle East crisis, HUG moved to ease their financial burden. It decided to cut the premium on its housing presale guarantee, which protects buyers if a developer goes bankrupt or insolvent, by 30% on a temporary basis through May next year. For project sites that have already received a PF loan guarantee, it raised the discount on presale guarantee premiums to as much as 60%.
HUG also worked with local governments to help deliver quality housing smoothly. Choi In-ho, president of HUG, visited the Edgar complex, a Seoul Youth Safe Housing project in the city's Gaebong neighborhood, in April to hear about difficulties facing the project. Seoul's Youth Safe Housing program provides rental homes near subway stations to young adults and newlyweds at rents below local market levels. In some cases, move-ins had been delayed because projects could not meet guarantee requirements due to trouble repaying PF loans.
In response, HUG changed its rules so that guarantees can be issued before loans are repaid. As a result, about 2,000 households across 10 completed sites that had not yet recruited private rental tenants are set to move in more quickly. The Seoul city government said the change would also help speed the supply of about 16,000 Youth Safe Housing units scheduled for completion by 2028.
This year, HUG held a series of meetings with the Korea REITs Association, the Korea Housing Builders Association and the Korea Developers Association to explore practical financial support. At its meeting with the Korea Developers Association, HUG pledged to provide low-interest liquidity to project sites held up by temporary cash shortages and high borrowing costs.
HUG also built a cooperation framework with the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) to support public-led housing supply. In April, the two signed a basic agreement to rapidly expand public-led housing supply. Under the deal, HUG will provide guarantees for LH projects such as housing supply on public land and the purchase of newly built units for rental housing, cutting financing costs. The two sides also began preparing guarantee and financing support tailored to specific projects, including new products, to spur urban redevelopment and housing supply using aging facilities and idle land. HUG said the aim is to deliver housing faster by combining its own guarantee and financing functions with LH's project execution capabilities.
"We will continue to actively support the government's housing supply policy through guarantees and policy financing, and work to produce housing stability results that the public can feel," Choi said. "We will go beyond being a simple guarantee institution and become a firm pillar of the real estate ecosystem, linking development, construction and finance."
