According to the Korea Wealth Report 2019 published by KB Financial Group Research Institute on Sep 29 that Vietnamese real estate has attracted attention from wealthy South Korean investors, amid their rising interest in overseas real estate investments.
Results of the survey on 400 people owning financial assets worth 1 billion won ($831,000) and above showed that more than half of them are interested in real estate investments in foreign countries.
Specifically, 59 percent among those having total assets worth less than 5 billion won, or 60 percent of the 400 respondents said they have interest in overseas property investment. For those with total assets worth over 5 billion won, some 53.9 percent of them are keen on investing in land and buildings abroad.
Notably, Vietnam is ranked as the most preferred country for wealthy Korean to invest in real estate, with 57.1 percent of respondents said they prefer the Southeast Asian country.
Vietnam was followed by Singapore, China and Malaysia, luring 32.1 percent, 30.7 percent and 26.4 percent of Korean billionaires, respectively.
In addition, affluent Koreans with total assets worth more than 5 billion won also showed interest in Europe and the United States markets. KB Financial Group Research Institute attributed their preference for the developed regions to concerns for portfolio diversification of the super-rich who can afford investments in relatively higher-priced assets.
The survey also revealed wealthy Koreans preferred indirect investments in overseas real estates to direct ones. Affluent people's avoidance of understanding and analyzing the unfamiliar foreign markets led to the tendency of their preference for indirect investments through funds or real estate investment trusts (REITs).
Wealthy Korean people will remain cautious about expanding their investments this year, said the report. The wealthy are delaying their investments, due to the economic slowdown following the U.S.-China trade war and regulations on the domestic housing market.
As of the end of 2018, the number of individuals with assets worth 1 billion won were 323,000, an increase of 4.4 percent from 310,000 over the previous year. The report said this was the lowest growth rate over the past five years.
In late 2018, a huge drop in the benchmark KOSPI index caused the slowdown in the growth of the number of billionaires in South Korea.
