Land Minister Kim Hyun-mee has hinted at further raising the comprehensive real estate tax over concerns that rental housing could be used as a new type of real estate speculation. 

Appearing on KBS’ nine-o-clock news on Monday, Kim said the ministry studied registered rental houses worth less than 600 million won in Seoul, which get tax breaks, and found that in the affluent Gangnam area, 42 percent of those properties were registered after being newly bought. 

With the finding, Kim said the ministry decided to consider slashing tax benefits given to owners of registered rental housing. 

On why she thinks apartment prices in the capital continue to rise, Kim pointed at excessive liquidity in the market amounting to some one-thousand-100 trillion won.  

She said that tax payers are not feeling significant burden from the comprehensive real estate tax as interest rates remain low, suggesting a further increase in the tax.