The real estate investment of stars who made high profits in the cooling real estate market is expected to be different from before. There is news that they have sold or are putting up for sale the real estate they own. Recently, it was reported that Kang Ho-dong sold his Gangnam building and Lee Soo-geun put up for sale a building in his joint name with his wife.

First, Hankyung.com first reported on the 16th, “Kang Ho-dong sold the Garosu-gil building.” According to the media, Kang Ho-dong sold a building with one basement level and five above-ground floors located at the corner of the Garosu-gil main commercial district in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul last month for 16.6 billion won. The building in question has a land area of 253.95㎡ (58.11 pyeong) and a building area of 593.17㎡ (179.43 pyeong). Kang Ho-dong purchased it in June 2018 for 14.1 billion won (242.64 million won per 3.3㎡). In 2013, Kang Ho-dong bought a building that was traded for 9.8 billion won, which was about 80 million won more per 3.3㎡.

However, when Kang Ho-dong sold the building after 6 years, he set the price per 3.3㎡ 40 million won higher, making a profit of 2.5 billion won. However, some say that the profit Kang Ho-dong earned was not large. Considering that he borrowed 7 billion won from the bank at the time of purchase, and that he paid taxes while holding it for the following 6 years and the transfer tax that he had to pay when selling it, it is assessed that he did not make a large price difference. This is because gentrification has been a problem for a long time, and with the emergence of many new ‘hot places’, the Garosu-gil commercial district is no longer an attractive commercial district, according to the real estate industry analysis.

Unlike Kang Ho-dong, Lee Soo-geun is known to own a building jointly with his wife. According to Maeil Kyungjae Star Today, Lee Soo-geun purchased real estate in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul in February 2011 under joint names with his wife Park Ji-yeon.

The building, which was an old house at the time of purchase, was reborn as a small building (land area 165.0㎡/49.91 pyeong) after changing its purpose and going through an expansion process. The land is jointly owned by the couple, but the building is in the wife‘s name alone. It is known that Lee Soo-geun and Park Ji-yeon have owned the building for over 10 years and recently put it up for sale.

A real estate industry insider said, “Considering that there have been confirmed cases of transactions of around 70-80 million won per pyeong in the surrounding area, the current value of Lee Soo-geun’s building is expected to be at least 3.7 billion won.” Since it is located near a densely populated area with broadcasting stations, it is considered to have excellent real estate value. The media reported a market price difference of around 2.4 billion won compared to the sale price. However, considering the costs and taxes due to the reconstruction, it is unknown whether the market price difference would have been greater than expected.

Also, the Lee Soo-geun and Park Ji-yeon couple‘s building is said to be a small, three-story building about 150m away from the Sangam-dong office building of ‘Content Lab Bibo’, founded by comedian Song Eun-i. Previously, Song Eun-i purchased an old building in Sangam-dong for 3.68 billion won in December 2020, and tore down the old building the following year to build a building with 1 basement floor and 6 above-ground floors. The value of the ‘Content Lab Bibo’ Sangam-dong office building is known to be 8 billion won.

Hong Se-young, Donga.com reporter projecthong@donga.com