South Korea's finance minister on Thursday expressed concerns that home prices in Seoul have picked up on expectations for eased rules on redevelopment housing projects, a key policy plan by the new Seoul mayor.

Mayor Oh Se-hoon took office last week with a pledge to ease regulations on redeveloping old apartments in the capital in a bid to help increase the home supply in the densely populated area.

Sale prices of apartments in Seoul rose 0.07 percent this week, accelerating from a 0.05 percent on-week gain the previous week, according to the Korea Real Estate Board. It was the first increase in the growth of home prices in the capital in 10 months.

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki issued a rare warning that the Seoul government's push for redevelopment projects could run counter to the government's efforts to stabilize skyrocketing home prices.

"It is very worrisome that housing prices, which have shown some signs of stabilizing, may turn unstable again," Hong said on his Facebook page.

In February, the government unveiled a plan to increase the number of new homes by up to 836,000 nationwide in the next four years in a bid to help stabilize rising housing prices.

The country has rolled out a series of comprehensive measures to stem rising home prices, including tax hikes and loan regulations. But the measures have resulted in only a short-term letup in housing price increases. (Yonhap)