The Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) rejected 6,003 of 6,953 applications in this year’s first round of purchases intended to address unsold apartments in local, non-capital regions. The 86.3% exclusion rate comprised 5,784 applicants who failed the review and 219 who failed document checks. Analysts say the high rejection rate may reflect concerns about insufficient residential demand for LH to convert the apartments into public rental housing (government-provided long-term housing). Including the two rounds held last year, 12,752 households, or 76.5% of all applicants, were excluded. Contract performance was also weak in last year’s first round, with only 92 of 712 eligible households signing contracts, although 1,322 of 2,260 eligible households from the second round contracted. With 2,338 households applying in this year’s second round and no contract data submitted for the first round, the government’s plan to purchase 8,000 local unsold apartments by the end of this year appears practically unachievable. Rep. Kim Mi-ae called for an explanation of the review failures, an analysis of tax reforms’ effects on local housing markets and measures such as broader special housing-count exceptions.