South Korea Market Outlook: Investor’s demand remains strong and the shortage of office space continues in 2022.
Summary
- Office Market Outlook
- The Asia Pacific office market has shown remarkable resilience and demand is expected to grow in 2022.
- The Korean office market has been very active in 2021, recording a high absorption rate. In particular, the drop in vacancy has been very significant in the GBD submarket, as technology companies have aggressively expanded their office space needs on the back of rapid growth during the pandemic period.
- In 2022, new office supply in major districts is expected to hit the lowest level since 2010. The vacancy rate is forecast to continue trending down next year and rents are also forecast to recover.
2. Investment Market Outlook
- The Korean investment market has been seeing rapid growth over the past two years. Investor interest has sustained, as the impact of the pandemic in the Korea market has been less severe when compared to other markets.
- The SK Seorin Building and The Pinnacle Yeoksam was sold at a record high of over KRW39million per pyeong.
- We see abundant liquidity and strong fundamentals keeping demand for domestic investment high, although total investment volume may hold steady somewhat due to the limited number of high-quality assets now remaining in the market.
- Logistics market has grown rapidly as the pandemic has accelerated the expansion in e-commerce. Investment volume in the logistics sector has soared since 2017, breaking a new record every year, and the boom in the logistics center sector is forecast to continue into the years ahead.