A vacant home in Daejeon. A new nationwide map will show the status and reuse cases of such properties. Courtesy of Daejeon City

A new online platform will allow users to easily view the distribution of abandoned homes across the country and explore ways to repurpose them.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on Tuesday that it will launch a website called "Binjibae," which roughly translates to "Love for Vacant Homes," in partnership with the Korea Real Estate Board.

The new updated site will provide nationwide data on vacant residential properties, along with policy information, redevelopment statistics and reuse case studies.

Previously, such information was available through the Small-scale and Vacant House Info e-Portal, but the new site offers a more user-friendly structure, separating key categories such as maps of vacant properties, redevelopment records, practical use examples and policy documents.

As a result, users can now access the results of the 2024 nationwide survey on vacant homes at a glance using an interactive map. The website also shares data on local governments' redevelopment efforts, including before-and-after photos, project locations and progress by project type, serving as a useful reference for future vacant home renewal projects.

To further encourage transactions, the site will list vacant homes confirmed for sale or lease by their owners. Authorities are currently reviewing a plan to develop a "vacant house transaction support service" that would allow interested buyers to easily connect with property owners.

The ministry plans to expand services in collaboration with an interagency task force and the Korea Real Estate Board. Future updates may include predictive tools to anticipate the occurrence and spread of vacant properties, along with recommendations for use after fixing up.

"Our goal is to link vacant home data with other indicators such as population decline, mortality rates and building age, while also integrating it with external lifestyle infrastructure data," a ministry official said.

According to data from the state-run Korea Research Institute for Construction Policy, based on Statistics Korea's latest housing census, the number of vacant homes in Korea reached 1.53 million at the end of 2023. It marks a 5.7 percent rise from 2022 and a 44 percent increase from 2015.

The figure climbed steadily from 1.07 million in 2015 to 1.52 million in 2019, before dipping slightly to 1.39 million in 2021.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.