GIC Sells $180 Million Seoul Office Tower, Signals Real Estate Market Shift

GIC sale of The Exchange Seoul office tower for $180 million brings attention to activity in South Korean real estate market.

State investor GIC based in Singapore has finalized the sale of The Exchange Seoul, a central office building, to a consortium involving South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS), and Koramco Asset Management for KRW 247.7billion ($180 million). This particular deal indicates a significant activity in the property market.

The worth of the deal includes an excess of KRW 190 billion for the office part and over KRW 50 billion for the retail section, as stated in the sale and purchase registry records. In 2004, GIC bought the building which was built in 1980 from Morgan Stanley for KRW 76 billion.

Koramco’s fund acquired this asset for KRW 270 billion with GS Engineering & Construction and City Core joining the local investment. Ms. Judy Jang of Colliers said, “The Koramco consortium intends to reconstruct the property into a new grade A office building, totaling 62,016 square meters.

In a development which marks the NPS’s first investment in the country’s real estate development after three years, the agency is committing KRW 250 billion to a ten-year fund run by Koramco. The new owners will spend approximately KRW 4.4 million per square meter of the area to be built afterward.

Seoul's office property market saw significant investments totaling KRW 4 trillion in the first half of 2024, reflecting a strong interest in real estate. Notable players like Hines and CapitaLand are actively involved, while GIC's sale of The Exchange Seoul indicates a growing and competitive real estate market in South Korea.