Voice of America reported that housing sales in North Korea are currently prevalent.

 

Many new housings and apartments are being built in Pyongyang. According to defectors, the nation built some of these apartments and the enterprises built many of them. A defector, Kim Eun Ho, stated that if 100 housings are built in North Korea, 20-30 housings are dedicated to the nation, 50 housings are distributed to workers, and the rest are sold privately. Housing sales in North Korea are known to have started in the 1990s during the March of Tribulation. At that time, the North Korean authorities strictly banned and punished housing sales. However, these days, the authorities’ control is reportedly looser than before, and housing sales are reasonably frequent.

 

A defector said that building individual’s own house in his or her land, which the nation allocated to them, depends on one’s mind. Also, people obtain materials and labor through a backer or network so it doesn’t really cost much money to build a house. An expert on North Korea indicated that this phenomenon in North Korea is similar to that of China in their early open and reform period.