韩国商业地产市场收益高于新加坡和日本
Foreign investors have begun to flood the Korean commercial real estate market, attracted by relatively high investment yields, undervalued high-end office buildings, and low volatility.
According to data from market research firm Real Capital Analytics, foreign investment pushed South Korea's commercial real estate transaction volume to a record US$12 billion last year, an increase of 15% over the previous year, while the overall transaction volume in the Asia-Pacific region fell by 14%.
In an environment of ultra-low interest rates, China is the preferred destination for international investors to invest in the Asia-Pacific real estate market. They are chasing alternative investments with higher yields.
However, Seoul has become one of the hottest commercial real estate markets in the Asia-Pacific region. The city's transaction volume has increased by 140% year-on-year, while in the traditional hottest markets such as Japan and Australia, excessive price increases have caused transaction volumes to drop by more than 30%.
Real estate consultants said that foreign investors participated in more than half of commercial real estate transactions in South Korea last year, the first time in nearly 20 years.
Steven Craig, managing director of real estate services group Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Korea, pointed out: "The return on investment in South Korea is higher than that of Tokyo or Singapore. Compared with China, South Korea has better Property rights system."
Attracted by this rate of return on investment, Blackstone made its first debut in the Korean commercial real estate market in June last year, spending about 450 billion won (US$392 million) to purchase Capital Tower in the dazzling Gangnam district of Seoul.
In November last year, a consortium consisting of Brookfield of Canada and China Investment Corporation (CIC), a sovereign wealth fund of China, bought the International Finance Corporation Park in Youido, Seoul’s main financial district, for US$2.7 billion. IFC complex), which became the largest commercial real estate transaction in the country last year.
It is reported that in addition to more than 40 international investment institutions that have entered South Korea, at least 20 new overseas investment institutions including Chinese buyers are actively seeking to enter the Korean market, and many of them are expected to make their debut in the Korean market this year.
Real estate sings "one-man show"
With the gradual stagnation of exports, the main growth driver of the Korean economy, "construction investment" is gradually filling this vacancy. Samsung has fallen. With economic growth facing uncertainties, South Korea is trying to rely on the construction boom brought by government investment to lead the road to economic recovery.
Recently, Chinese capital began to enter the core area of Korean real estate-the high-end residential market in Gangnam, Seoul. According to data released by the City of Seoul, the amount of land held by the Chinese in Seoul has grown from 2,113 at the end of 2014 to 4139 in the first half of this year. The number of plots has increased by 96% and the area has increased by 29%.
Shen Qiaoyan, a professor of real estate at Konkuk University, said: “The entry of overseas capital, including China, can fill the gap in the real estate market caused by social issues such as low birth rate and aging.”
The Korean Research Institute worries that the structural danger of relying solely on construction growth is very high. Jiang Doulong warned that “South Korea’s construction investment accounts for a significantly larger proportion of GDP than major developed countries.
Based on last year’s benchmark, South Korea’s birth rate was 1.24, which is the lowest among the 34 OECD member countries. Under such circumstances, overheated real estate construction investment may lead to oversupply.”
"An economy that is overly dependent on real estate cannot be a long-term solution. After all, South Korea does not have a large influx of foreign population, and the country's aging population is also very serious. The overheating of real estate is likely to cause new bubbles." Some analysts say that South Korea's economy may repeat Japan. In the 1990s, the construction and investment-dependent boom stimulus policy was promoted, but only the mistake of increasing public debt.