The Korean Economic Forum
A Study on the Improvement of Korean REITs
Ki-Yul Jung (Korea Real Estate Investment & Trust)Year 2016Vol. 9No. 3
Abstract
Korea adopted REITs (real estate investment trusts) in 2001 to help economicrecovery after the 1997 financial crisis. Over the past 16 years, the Koreangovernment has tried to reflect market demands on the REITs system and toprevent its side effects with a series of revision. In spite of these efforts, KoreanREITs has not been active compared with those in advanced countries like theUS. It is required to improve market and institutional environments forpromoting the growth of REITs in Korea.REITs, which raises funds from general investors, invests and manages themin real-estate markets, shares returns among investors, is subject to the “RealEstate Investment Act”. As it is mentioned in the Act, the main purpose ofREITs is to provide general people with various opportunities of real-estateinvestment, stable returns and tax benefits.However, current status of Korean REITs has institutional and noninstitutionalproblems, obstructing the achievement of its purposes. In thisstudy, I investigate those problems in various aspects. In addition, consideringthe interests of REITs industry, government and legislative body, I try to makesuggestions for promoting the growth of Korean REITs and its system.