BSN GROUP
Insights
Field reports and analysis on Seoul commercial real estate from the BSN brokerage team — district walkthroughs, transaction case studies, financing and regulation.
The full articles are written in Korean. Titles and summaries below are in English; select an item to open the original.
District & Building Reviews
Busan Gwangalli commercial district review
On-site walkthrough of Gwangalli and Namcheon-dong: a 9.3bn KRW Starbucks building, a motel conversion running at full occupancy, and three buildings traded at once.
Bukchon, Gyedong and Hwadong building review, part 2
A 3.5bn KRW hanok rebuild, a Blue Bottle site that moved from 9bn to 22bn KRW, and a 40bn KRW Amorepacific investment.
Bukchon and Gyedong building review
Olive Young’s site doubled per-pyeong in two years; a 2bn KRW building yielding close to 5%; the London Bagel property.
Is Garosu-gil worth buying now?
Two brokers with twelve years on the street discuss how Apple reshaped the area and what a rebound would look like.
Five award-winning buildings in Gangnam
A drive-through look at the Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Harim and Songeun buildings, and what makes their architecture pay.
Hannam-dong Soonchunhyang Hospital district review
A 17bn KRW new build, sharply rising rents around star-chef restaurants, and a 7.4bn KRW headquarters purchase.
Hannam-dong Embassy Road district review
How Sounds Hannam reshaped the area, plus a 20.3bn KRW investment and other notable trades.
Hannam-dong Comme des Garçons street, back-lane review part 2
A 7.2bn KRW headquarters, a property that went from 5.3bn to 7.2bn KRW, and one estimated to have tripled.
Seongsu-dong Atelier-gil review, part 2
A building that moved from 4.6bn to 11.9bn KRW — four to five times per pyeong in six years.
Seongsu-dong Atelier-gil building review
A 33.6bn KRW purchase by Musinsa’s chairman, a property reported from 29.3bn to 120bn KRW, and a 46.8bn KRW acquisition.
Seongsu-dong East Yeonmujang-gil review, part 2
A 10-pyeong guard post renting for 30m KRW a month, a 13bn KRW one-year gain, and a 19bn KRW cash purchase.
Hannam-dong Comme des Garçons street building review
A 12.6bn KRW purchase, a 7.8bn KRW one, an auction that went from 2.1bn to 5.3bn KRW, and a record 350m KRW per pyeong.
Seongsu-dong East Yeonmujang-gil building review
A fivefold gain for Musinsa, pop-ups taking 20m KRW a day, and a 130bn KRW megastore.
Seongsu-dong West Yeonmujang-gil review, part 3
Amorepacific, Covernat and Krafton sites, walked through with the yield maths.
Seongsu-dong Yeonmujang-gil building review
A 11.7bn KRW North Face building, a tenant paying 400m KRW a month, and the salt-bread bakery property.
Seongsu-dong West Yeonmujang-gil building review
Three buildings, annual yields of 5.4% to 6.6%, checked on site.
Only districts that draw foreign visitors will survive
Foreign spending as the clearest signal of a district’s durability.
Investment & Financing
A small-building renovation that worked, in Cheongdam-dong
Choosing the target tenant, adding a lift, and sending 800 proposals — all four floors leased within two weeks of completion.
Seongsu-dong auction property, analysed on site
198 pyeong of land, a 39bn KRW floor price, roughly 200m KRW per pyeong — is this a way into Yeonmujang-gil?
Fifteen years of brokerage, discussed frankly
The signals that a commercial district is dying, how to buy a building well, and where the market goes next.
Sinsa-dong 510 auction property
620 pyeong on a back street by Sinsa Station, at a 28.5bn KRW asking price.
Why we wanted to buy the 13.7bn KRW Cheonggu Building
Buying a building that carries a story, and what that is worth.
From a Gangnam soup restaurant to a beauty salon
A capital gain achieved through location alone, without construction.
Why tenant-industry analysis decides retail returns
Reading which business types will hold up before you buy.
When leaving a building empty beats a weak lease
Why a marginal rental yield can cost more than vacancy.
Buying as your own headquarters can unlock up to 90% financing
Loan-to-value limits on commercial buildings depend on intended use.
Sell a 4bn KRW building for 10bn — what actually remains?
Working through the real net proceeds on a headline gain.
A pharmacy took the whole building
What a single-tenant, whole-building lease does to valuation.
Buildings sold by owners in their 60s and 70s, bought by those in their 40s and 50s
A generational handover is moving through the Seoul market.
Your headquarters location is a hiring advantage
A signal building owners should be reading in tenant demand.
Visiting three banks can cut tens of millions in interest
Why commercial mortgage terms vary far more than owners expect.
Korea’s 460,000 wealthy households and why they buy buildings
What commercial property does in a large Korean portfolio.
Why a rate-cutting cycle is a buying window
How falling rates move commercial building prices, and the lag involved.
Regulation & Development
Sunlight-setback easing passes: a two-year window for owners
The revised right-to-light setback rule and a 50% floor-area-ratio incentive, valid for two years. What second- and third-class zone owners should do now.
Development news that looks good and turns out badly
When a nearby project hurts the building you already own.
A three-year floor-area-ratio incentive you should not miss
The window, the conditions, and who benefits most.
Company & Technology
Commuting with Tesla FSD
Why autonomous driving changes where commercial property is worth owning.
We shot the first BSN podcast episode
Behind the scenes of our new commercial real estate podcast.
Building software without developers
How BSN brought AI development in house, and what it changed.