SEOUL -- The government plans to announce a set of measures to help revitalize the country's real estate market, government officials said Sunday.
   
The measures, set to be revealed Monday, will be the first of their kind since the Park Geun-hye administration took office late last month.
   
The move comes as a downturn in the real estate market is also leading to a slowdown in the construction market, and thus affecting the entire economy and job market as well.
   
As of the end of February, there were 73,386 unsold new homes in the country, though the number dropped slightly from 75,180 in the previous month, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
   
"We have many urgent tasks ahead of us, but we must first normalize the real estate market," Minister Suh Seung-hwan said earlier. "The prolonged downturn in the real estate market is not only leading to shrinking of the real economy but is also threatening the very livelihood of our people."
   
The new government measures, however, are not expected to include relaxation of regulations on loan-to-value or debt-to-income ratios of households, which may grant easier access to mortgages or loans by homeowners or those seeking to purchase one.
   
The construction minister earlier said the government will not take any measures that will artificially raise the price of homes, maintaining the ongoing slowdown in the property market was mainly due to fears of further price drops.
   
"I believe new transactions will be made in the market as long as there is an expectation that house prices will not drop any further," he had said.
   
To encourage new home buyers, the government is expected to exempt first-time homeowners from acquisition tax and also remove a system that imposes additional taxes on owners of multiple homes.
   
The government is also expected to lower the interest rate on government mortgage loans from the current 3.8 percent to the lower 3 percent range, according to government and ruling party officials. (Yonhap News)