Top 50 South Korean companies, non-business real estate surpasses 100 trillion won… used as a source of income

According to an investigation, as of 2025, the scale of non-operating real estate held by South Korea’s top 50 conglomerates exceeds 100 trillion won, and companies are using real estate that is not directly related to their core business as an important source of assets and earnings.

Based on analysis results released on the 6th by the Corporate Analysis Research Institute’s “Leadership Index,” among 374 listed and unlisted companies under the 50 largest conglomerates that submitted business reports, 181 disclosed the value of investment real estate for two consecutive years (2024 and 2025). The total amount of non-operating real estate was 106.2839 trillion won last year. This figure was up 4.2% from a year earlier. This survey targeted companies other than real estate investment firms and used fair value standards reflecting prevailing market prices for the assessment, rather than simply the acquisition cost. Non-operating real estate refers to land and buildings that are not directly used in production and operations, or that are held beyond the level actually required for business activities.

By conglomerate, Samsung Group ranked first with 12.769 trillion won, but it fell 8.2% from the previous year and accounted for 1.5% of total assets. Among them, Samsung Life Insurance holds 11.7863 trillion won, accounting for most of the group’s holdings. Lotte Group is 11.5178 trillion won, up 11.5%, representing 7.6% of total assets. Lotte Shopping (6.8284 trillion won) and Lotte Hotels (2.7902 trillion won) are its core assets. Hanwha Group is 8.8244 trillion won, up 16.5%; KT is 8.3334 trillion won, up 12.5%. By contrast, Future Asset Group is 5.7684 trillion won, down 21.1%; GS Group is 4.7593 trillion won, up 19.9%. Looking only at the rate of increase, DOW KISCO Group stands out: its non-operating real estate is 4.3683 trillion won, which increased by 1.8264 trillion won within a year, for a growth rate of 71.9%.

Conglomerates with a high reliance on non-operating real estate are also notable. Those with an asset proportion above 10% include HDC (15.3%), KT&G (11.1%), KT (10.5%), and Hyundai Department Store (10.0%), four companies in total. This is far higher than the overall average of 2.3%. Looking at individual subsidiaries, there are 46 companies whose current value has risen to more than double the level at the time of acquisition, and 17 companies with an increase of more than three times. The largest increase is HDC Yongchang (currently IPARK Yongchang), at 857.3%. Next are KT Alpha (654%) and Lotte Fine Chemicals (617%). This means that the evaluation gains accumulate significantly over time for long-held, non-core real estate.

These assets not only bring higher book value, but also generate actual rental income. There are 12 groups whose annualized rental yield based on fair value exceeds 5%, among which CJ Group (9.6%) and Future Asset Group (8.0%) are particularly representative. Calculated by subsidiary, 60 companies have yields above 5%, and 15 have yields above 10%. The “Leadership Index” interprets this as showing that non-operating real estate is effectively being used as a means to create stable cash flow outside core business operations. Before the mid-1990s, non-operating real estate was subject to high taxes at various stages of acquisition, holding, and transfer, due to reasons such as curbing speculation and improving land-use efficiency. However, after the foreign exchange crisis, as regulations were relaxed, companies’ burden was significantly reduced.

Recently, however, the Lee Jae-myung government has been viewing such assets as targets with a strong non-labor income nature, and is considering the possibility of strengthening taxation, which introduces uncertainty. For companies, the real estate strategy that has long been viewed as a stable source of earnings may need to be reconsidered. This trend is expected to become an important yardstick for future decisions—whether to continue holding non-core assets, sell them, or change how they are utilized.