부동산투자회사제도의 도입과 시사점

부동산투자회사 도입의 필요성과 활성화 방안을 연구했다.

The REITs system made its debut in July 2001 in Korea in response to the needs for securitizing real estate properties and introducing advanced property market practices and techniques. REITs were called for to resolve the problem of property value deflation and reinvigorate the moribund real estate market that crashed immediately after the outbreak of the financial crisis in late 1997. By offering small investors a safe and reliable avenue of investing in large real estate properties, REITs were also welcomed as a means for accelerating the restructuring in the corporate and financial sectors.

The introduction of REITs in Korea is significant in that it opened the era of indirect real estate investment in line with the global trend of enhancing real estate properties' liquidity through consolidation of the real estate and financial markets. The Real Estate Investment Trust Act that went into effect in July 2001 authorizes two types of REITs - K-REITs and CR-REITs. While K-REITs are permanent corporations on the Commercial Code with standing staff that can invest in any kind of real estate properties, CR-REITs are temporary paper companies with no standing staff that invest only in properties put up for sale for corporate restructuring purposes.

General clauses of the REIT Act are applied in the same way to both K-REITs and CR-REITs, but compared with K-REITS, CR-REITs have fewer restrictions on their asset management and enjoy more tax breaks. In the case of CR-REITs, there is no upper limit in stock ownership for each investor, borrowing and in-kind contribution are allowed at the time of incorporation, acquisition and registration taxes are exempt 100 percent, and corporate income tax is exempt when over 90 percent of the proceeds are paid back to investors as dividends. In contrast, K-REITs are eligible for only 50 percent reduction of acquisition and registration taxes.

The impacts of the establishment of the REITs system can be summarized as follows: First would be their impact on the capital market: REITs are expected to eventually expand the capital market because they are a new financial product with their risks and returns lower than stocks but higher than bonds. Also, if REITs can reward investors with stable dividends through healthy and efficient asset management, they would be able to help the investment for dividend take deep roots in the Korean capital market.

Secondly, REITs are anticipated to change the real estate market in many ways: They will help enhance the transparency in the real estate investment and management while upgrading the whole industry's level of professionalism by attracting many trained professionals and specialized companies to the fields related to investment portfolio setup and asset management. They are also seen to act as a catalyst in separating developers from construction companies through such means as project financing and eventually bringing about epoch-making changes in the structure of the construction industry in general.

Thirdly, REITs will also influence other related industries: Due to the initial public offering (IPO) and issuance of securities of REITs, the roles of property valuation, credit rating, and credit enhancement organizations will become more important and a new service industry supporting them is expected to develop. The REITs as stipulated in the Real Estate Investment Trust Act have several problems from licensing to operation. These problems and the suggestions for improvement are offered as follows: First, the current law prohibits the use of the name of real estate investment company at the time of authorization for incorporation, which will put limitations on the public offering.

To solve this problem, using a preliminary authorization system is suggested. Second, in order to promote and activate the REITs system, more incentives on acquisition, registration, and corporate income taxes are recommended. Third, lifting the ban on in-kind contribution on a selective basis during the initial stages of REITs system is suggested. If excessive stock ownership occurs due to in-kind contribution, that particular investor's voting right can be limited to 10 out of 100. Fourth, it is recommended that the initial capital of 50 billion won be lowered to a reasonable amount to encourage free competition. Fifth, abolishing the restrictions on development projects is suggested.

Since those restrictions are mainly aimed at curbing real estate speculation, adding some clauses that would discourage such short-term trades for capital gains would help, such as those requiring mandatory lease/possession periods after completion of development and putting certain restrictions on pre-sales. Sixth, prohibiting REITs from borrowing seems to be going against the very nature of a real estate investment company that gains profits through investment in real estate because borrowing creates the leverage effect for increased yield rate. Thus, this clause needs improvement.

In addition, with respect to the operation of REITs, the current law needs to be supplemented in the following: the recruitment of asset managers with relevant expertise and training, strengthening of the investment prospectus verification system, and building a suitable corporate governance structure. In conclusion, the introduction of REITs is expected to bring about fundamental and far-reaching changes in the Korean real estate market.

In the long term, however, REITs would be able to take firm roots and remain active in the Korean market only when the infra industry related to indirect real estate investment is developed at the same time and the above-mentioned problems in the system are resolved as recommended in this thesis. Continuous and conscientious efforts should be made so that REITs can open the era of real estate investment by the mass and contribute to the development of the real estate investment and capital markets in the future.