PHOTO: BLOOMBERG[SEOUL] KKR and Morgan Stanley are pouncing on the biggest shift in decades in South Korea’s US$153 billion residential rental market that’s presenting a rare opportunity to global institutions. In the last two months, KKR has bought an apartment block in one of Seoul’s most affluent neighbourhoods, while M&G Real Estate announced its first-ever residential property investment in South Korea. “From an institutional perspective, South Korea’s residential rental market has just begun,” said Bae Seho, an analyst at iM Securities. Sign Up Sign UpSouth Korea’s residential property sector is forecast to grow to US$437.6 billion by 2030, from about US$402 billion in 2025, according to Mordor Intelligence. A government push in recent years has reduced the country’s reliance on the jeonse rental system, that’s existed for much of the postwar era.