The government on Thursday hinted at easing a real estate holding tax for those who have become temporary multiple homeowners following a call from the ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung.

"There are some positive sides (of Lee's proposal)," Koo Yun-cheol, Minister for Government Policy Coordination, said in a MBC radio interview.

He added that the government is currently discussing with the ruling Democratic Party (DP) over its real estate taxation scheme to stabilize the housing market and ease tax burden of people.

Lee has been suggesting that those who have become temporary multiple homeowners due to reasons like children's school and job issues should be excluded from a heavy comprehensive real estate holding tax if they do not have speculative purposes.

The DP already proposed a bill exempting real estate holding tax for temporary multiple homeowners' second property for two years. The bill also aims to help multiple homeowners who have an extra house in their hometown and rural area as well as people who inherited a property.

Koo, however, expressed a negative view on Lee's proposal of delaying the government's plan of imposing a heavy capital gains tax on owners of multiple homes when they sell their properties.

Lee has been claiming that the postponement would put more homes on the market and thus help stabilize soaring housing prices.

"Those who are holding many houses are saying they would wait until the law is passed, and people looking to buy houses are saying they would wait expecting home prices would go down," Koo said. "So, we may actually see a situation where the number of homes up for sale decreases in the market."

Asked about Lee's proposal of cutting acquisition tax for the first-time home buyers, Koo said the government has yet to look into the issue. (Yonhap)