Korea’s financial sector saw a decline in its overseas real estate investments during the second quarter of 2024, driven by a prolonged recovery in global markets, according to new data released on Friday.
As of June 30, financial institutions—including banks, insurers, and other players—held a combined 56.3 trillion won ($38.8 billion) in overseas real estate investments. This marks a reduction of 0.7 trillion won from the previous quarter. The data, provided by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), indicates that the end-June figure accounted for just 0.8% of the financial sector’s total assets.
Breaking down the investments by sector, insurers led with 31.2 trillion won in overseas real estate holdings, followed by banks at 11.7 trillion won and securities firms with 7.8 trillion won.
Regionally, North America dominated the investment portfolio, with financial institutions holding 35.2 trillion won in real estate assets across the continent. Europe followed with 10.5 trillion won, while investments in Asia amounted to 3.9 trillion won, and other regions accounted for 6.7 trillion won.
Despite the drop in overall overseas real estate investment, the continued prominence of North America reflects the region’s sustained appeal to Korean financial players, though challenges in global market recovery have limited further growth in this sector.
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