Apartments in Seoul seen from Lotte World Tower on Wednesday (Yonhap) South Korea on Thursday unveiled plans to begin construction of 230,000 houses in the Greater Seoul area within five years to address the housing affordability crisis.The announcement comes in addition to a September 2025 plan for building 1.35 million houses in the region by 2030.The construction of 27,000 homes will start "within three or four years" in newly designated public housing zones in Gangseo-gu, Seoul; Namyangju and Gwangju of Gyeonggi Province, said Kim in a briefing, adding that zones for 73,000 additional houses will be announced this year.Other plans involve transitioning 15,000 commercial spaces into houses and fast-tracking ongoing public housing projects to put the construction of 41,000 houses ahead of schedule. A new supply of 3,700 houses in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, will also be possible due to the lifting of altitude restrictions.The policy support concerning public housing and redevelopment, as well as eased construction regulations, will enable the country to supply at least 70,000 houses in Greater Seoul, according to the government."The burden of housing costs for young people and low-income households is growing, and rising housing prices deter aspiring homebuyers looking for a house to live in from buying their own home," Land Minister Kim Yun-duk said in a briefing held in the Government Complex Seoul on Thursday.Kim added that swiftly beginning the construction process following the policy announcement would "address housing price fluctuation due to imbalance between supply and demand."Thursday's announcement comes as housing prices and rent prices — both monthly rent and the local "jeonse," or lump deposit, system — rose steeply in recent months.The housing affordability crisis has been cited as a reason for President Lee Jae Myung's falling approval rating. His administration has been criticized for its regulations to combat housing market overheating in the metropolitan area, including curbs on mortgages and higher taxes on homebuyers.The ruling bloc, however, has accused right-wing Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon of the slow progress in housing supply. Land Minister Kim also said the volume of new housing units "has decreased due to the sluggish construction of houses since 2022."