Last updated May 22nd, 2024.
South Korea escaped the middle-income trap to join Singapore and Japan as Asia’s third wealthiest country. Because of this, property developers in Korea benefit from relatively new demand for housing.
Few other countries in the world have outperformed the Korean market over the last few decades, which puts it on a select list of top economies.
Quite simply, South Korea is among the world’s most economically dynamic countries. The nation’s property market serves as a model that other nations seek to emulate.
Considering the enormous progress in the real estate sector, we’ll rank the eight best property developers in South Korea.
Selecting a specific property (and by extension, the developer that built it) is the first step to buying real estate in South Korea. This guide serves to help prospective homeowners.
Without any further ado, below are eight of the best real estate companies in Korea!
Hyosung Corporation
Headquartered in Seoul Hyosung is a Chaebol – a Korean conglomerate – spanning the chemical, industrial machinery, IT, trade, and construction industries.
For its construction projects, the company specializes in residential housing, business and commercial, as well as civil and SOC projects.
The company is known to be a trend-setter since the 1970’s, as it was the first major property developer that introduced villa type residential buildings in Korea.
Among its more noteworthy active residential buildings within their portfolio is the Hyosung Harrington Place, which is a 114.93m tall complex with 30 above-ground floors, which was unveiled in June 2019.
Stock Ticker: 298040
Website: http://www.hyosung.com/en/index.do
Hyosung Villa Cheongdam, shown above, is one of the Seoul metro area’s most expensive apartment buildings. Buying a unit in this building will cost you about $25,000 per square meter.
Dongbu Corporation
Dongbu Corporation is a global construction and real estate company headquartered in Seoul.
The company specializes in office buildings, hospitals, sports facilities, educational buildings, and apartment complexes. Dongbu also contracts civil engineering projects, such as dams, tunnels, subways, harbors, and water supply facilities.
Given this, Dongbu Corporation has various concession projects, through which it provides bus transportation and freight services.
It is one of Korean’s most prolific developers and has built various public buildings over its half a century of operation. Among them is the National Museum of Korea, which is the 6th largest museum in the world.
Stock Ticker: 005960
Website: http://dongbucorp.com/index.do
Daelim Corporation
Delim Corporation is a Korean property developer within the DL Holdings conglomerate, which has a global reach and has its headquarters in Seoul.
Since it is part of one of the largest chaebols in South Korea, it is able to leverage considerable business synergies by offering comprehensive consulting and construction services, especially in the residential, business, commercial and logistic facilities.
In addition, Daelim also offers engineering services in the development and design of construction machinery and electric fields.
Among its recent designs is the Busan Jaesong 2 District Reconstruction Project. The plans involve the construction of 938 apartment units and adjacent welfare facilities.
Stock Ticker: 000210
Website: https://www.daelimcorp.co.kr/en/pc/index.do
Booyoung Group is a multinational company with operations in several countries – not just in South Korea. Pictured above is their Booyoung Town project in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Booyoung Group
Headquartered in Seoul, Booyoung Group is among the largest property developers in Korea, which also operates in neighbouring Southeast Asia.
Over its 39-year history, Booyoung has managed to build 270,000 households in 352 housing complexes around the world.
Among its most ambitious projects in recent years was Dongtan New Town, which is a planned community in the southern urban area of Korea. It’s designed as a business-hub for research, development and export and is accessible by KTX in 20 minutes.
In addition to its property development business, Booyoung also manages various resort hotels, a telecommunication service company, and even owns a bank in Cambodia.
Website: http://eng.booyoung.co.kr/en/company/com_hist.htm
Korea Housing Corporation
State-owned Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) specializes in the development of urban environments, as well as the maintenance and management of plots of land and housing. It primarily does business in South Korea but has business internationally.
LH is Korean property developer headquartered in Jinju-si, and operates under several sub-brands to sell different types of real estate. These include Humansia, Tranchae, Jugong Green Ville, and A Thousand Trees.
Among Korea Housing Corporation’s more interesting projects is the Smart City, a misnomer as it is actually made up of four different towns which are connected to each other. The main goal of the project is becoming a hub of Seoul’s Northeast region.
Smart City is slated to begin late-2021 year and will cover an area of 11,337,000 square meters with a projected 66,000 houses.
Website: https://www.lh.or.kr/eng/
ShinYoung Greensys
ShinYoung Greensys has headquarter in Seoul. They’re a real estate development, asset management, investment consulting, civil engineering and textile company.
In regards to its construction business interests, ShinYoung Greensys specializes in commercial, residential, mixed-use and serviced apartments.
One of its noteworthy construction projects is the Sebang Lithium Pyeongdong Factory, covering an area of 33,013 square meters. It’s a good example of the monumental tasks that this Korean property developer can accomplish in relatively short timeframes.
Website: http://www.shinyoungenc.com/main/main.asp
HDC is one of Korea’s largest real estate firms. Condos and other consumer-targeted housing projects are just a small part of its overall business.
HDC Hyundai Development
This company recently spun-off from HDC Holdings, which specializes in property development, construction and hospitality. It retained its Seoul headquarters, but also operates internationally.
HDC Hyundai Development pursues urban development, multi-use development, large scale apartment complex development as well as civil engineering projects.
Hyundai Development’s property portfolio includes the Suwon IPARK CITY, which covers an area of one million square meters.
While 48% of the area is foreseen to be residential, the rest will include themed shopping malls, complex commercial facilities, public spaces, religious facilities, as well as an ecological park with an area of 60,000 square meters to develop a luxury urban space.
KRX Stock Ticker: 294870
Website: http://www.hdc-dvp.com/
Hines
Hines is a global real estate development and engineering company in Korea. While its main headquarters is located in Texas, they have a Seoul branch as well.
Since Hines’ Asian expansion three decades ago, its Korea property development arm has completed many projects in the region.
Combined together, Hines has 17 projects totaling 14 million square feet across various sectors in Korea.
South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) and Hines recently committed $1.5 billion for property developments in the country.
Website: https://www.hines.com/
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