The presidential office says the grace period for multi-home owners to start paying a higher capital gains tax will end May 9 as planned.

Presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said during a press briefing Monday that President Lee Jae Myung has consistently emphasized this fact.

Earlier, the president said contracts signed until May 9 would be exempt from the higher tax rate.

There was speculation that the deadline might be extended after Director of National Policy Kim Yong-beom recently suggested the possibility of a technical review delaying it by a month or or two.

The spokesperson’s comments Monday, however, suggest that while technical issues may lead to some fine-tuning of precise dates, there will not be an extension.

Meanwhile, Kang said the president’s recent social media postings on real estate policies show his resolve to implement policies in a consistent manner.