South Korean Investors Buying More and More Real Estate in the U.S.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Nov. 17 that South Korean investors are purchasing more and more commercial real estate properties and warehouses in the United States and its extremely low interest rates are attracting more and more South Korean investors to the market hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the report, U.S. real estate investment from South Korea is soaring whereas most global investors are refraining from investing in the U.S. capital market due to the pandemic and Chinese investors’ investment in the market is decreasing due to government control.

Commercial real estate research firm Real Capital Analytics’ recent statistics show that South Korea accounted for 3.7 percent of foreign investment in the U.S. commercial real estate market last year and the ratio jumped to 8.6 percent in the first three quarters of this year, when South Korean investors made a total investment of US$1.56 billion in the market as the third-largest group behind their Canadian and German counterparts. For reference, the investment from South Korea was US$1.24 billion, the 10th-largest, in January to September 2019.