[Exclusive] Government and Ruling Party Consider Alternative Investment of “1% of the National Pension” in Public Rental Housing (2026.08.06.)
![[Exclusive] Government and Ruling Party Consider Alternative Investment of “1% of the National Pension” in Public Rental Housing (2026.08.06.)](/uploads/editor/2026/08/c5d827a64c36498ea826b1256616c801-1785997462549.jpg)
(The Pension Future Forum
finds the content of the following article —
that is, drawing on the National Pension Fund
to make
alternative investments related to
rental housing —
and the content of the party-government consultation on it,
nothing short of shocking (!)!
Because of the hasty approval of leverage,
62% of the securities accounts
that were forcibly liquidated
are reported to belong to young people
aged 35
or under;
given that situation,
this is all the more so!
The National Pension
has, this year,
more than doubled
its allocation to domestic investment,
acting as a catalyst
for the overheating of the KOSPI index,
and, by failing to rebalance
at the right
time, it is now
criticized for having handed over
a considerable part of domestic investors’
money to foreigners
as an outright gift —
such is the criticism it faces!
In such a situation,
to say once again
that something is to be done
with the National Pension
leaves one dumbfounded!
The great majority of
National Pension members,
and especially young
National Pension members —
a discussion that provokes their anger,
such a discussion,
we demand be stopped at once,
and we demand it strongly;
at the same time
we issue
a solemn warning!
The political interference
in the National Pension —
we ask that it stop!
(Pension Future Forum, August 6, 2026)
(The National Assembly’s Special Committee on Budget and Accounts discusses it with the Ministry of Budget and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport at a party-government consultation
Part of the National Pension Fund to be injected and used for the supply of public rental housing
Lee Kwang-jae, Chairman of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts: “Stable returns are possible at home”
The National Pension: “We are examining a virtuous-circle model of pension profitability plus housing stability”)
The government and the ruling party are considering a plan to inject 1% of the 1,800 trillion won National Pension Fund as funding for public housing projects.
This is because a warning light has come on for the National Housing and Urban Fund, the funding source for public housing, as departures from housing subscription accounts accelerate amid soaring pre-sale prices and falling chances of winning a unit. The idea is to use pension money to breathe life into housing supply — the core of real estate policy — while making use of it as a stable source of returns.
According to political sources on the 5th, the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Budget and Accounts held a meeting on housing budgets with the Ministry of Budget and Planning and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 30th of last month and discussed a plan to use 1% of the National Pension Fund as funding for public housing projects. Lee Kwang-jae, Chairman of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts and a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, stressed in an interview with Money Today’s the300 that “even without overseas investment, if the National Pension earns stable returns at home while supplying public housing, we can create a virtuous circle of national wealth with no loss of principal.”
According to the National Pension Service, as of the end of May the National Pension Fund’s reserves stood at 1,848.7 trillion won. If the party-government idea were realized, more than 18 trillion won could serve as seed money for public housing projects. Chairman Lee set out an idea of supplementing the National Housing and Urban Fund’s insufficient resources with the fund in order to supply “high-quality public housing” in large volume. Rather than simple welfare spending, methods are being discussed that would guarantee stable returns above government bond yields through vehicles such as rental housing REITs. An official at the National Pension also said, “On the premise of securing an appropriate rate of return, we are examining an alternative investment model that could produce a virtuous circle of pension profitability and housing stability.”
The key issue in the rental housing business the National Pension is examining is whether an appropriate rate of return and stability of management can be assured. The government takes the view that if returns at the level of government bond yields — around 4% — can be earned, the National Pension can be used as a funding source for the supply of public housing. The National Pension, by contrast, is understood to hold the position that a return of at least 7% must be guaranteed.
