Seoul City Mayor Park Won-soon says lifting the greenbelt development restriction in the metropolitan area must be addressed very cautiously, reiterating his opposition to the idea.

Easing the restrictions is one of the measures the government and the ruling Democratic Party(DP) are considering to prevent the spike in housing prices in the capital region.

At a forum in Seoul on Tuesday, Park said the issue of lifting greenbelt designations requires the utmost prudence in the wake of a decline in population and citizens increasingly desiring a higher quality of life.

The Seoul mayor then said he will discuss the issue with the central government while calling for an increase in public rental homes as a way to tackle the real estate problem.

Noting 90 percent of housing in Singapore and 70 percent in Vienna, Austria are public rental homes compared to less than five percent in South Korea, Park said now would be the golden opportunity to expand public rental housing using pension funds and liquid capital.