CBRE Korea Unveils Specialized Medical Commercial Real Estate Retail Services

- Focusing on the growing medical market in traditional commercial districts such as Myeongdong, Gangnam, Hongdae and Sinsa
- Provision of specialized services leveraging expert personnel, extensive asset management experience, and comprehensive commercial district data

July 30, 2024 (Seoul) – CBRE Korea, the world's largest commercial real estate services company, announced on the 30th the launch of its new specialized medical commercial real estate retail services.

With the global K-beauty trend and the concurrent rise in medical tourism, the domestic medical market is gaining significant attention. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of foreign medical patients last year reached 605,768, more than 2.4 times the 248,000 recorded in 2022, marking the highest figure since 2009. The medical commercial real estate sector is experiencing robust growth, driven by the increasing demand from medical tourists, particularly in traditional commercial districts such as Myeongdong, Gangnam, Hongdae, and Sinsa, rather than emerging commercial districts.

In contrast to this growing market demand, existing medical commercial real estate has been limited by a lack of services, with private brokers specializing in hospitals, regardless of the medical field or scale, to provide specialized retail strategies, transparent transaction processes, and specialized medical retailers.

CBRE Korea provides medical commercial real estate services tailored to the local medical market conditions based on CBRE Global's know-how, extensive local commercial data, systematic processes, and expertise in providing medical commercial real estate services to world-class medical institutions such as Cleveland Clinic, Stanford University Medical Center, and Yale New Haven Health in global markets. CBRE Korea will also leverage its global network to support major Korean medical brands in their overseas expansion.

To launch the service, CBRE Korea has strengthened its expertise by recruiting medical commercial real estate specialists. Director Mark Do is a medical commercial real estate retail specialist with over a decade of experience in MD strategy, key tenant marketing, and leasing advisory for major medical properties such as dermatology, orthopedics, oriental medicine clinics, wellness clinics, wellness medical checkup centers, and pharmacies.

Mark Do, Director at CBRE Korea, stated, "The domestic retail market has traditionally focused on fashion, F&B, and entertainment services centered around major commercial districts. As various markets within traditional commercial districts continue to grow, there is an increasing need for specialized commercial real estate services grounded in expertise. Through this medical commercial real estate retail service, we aim to provide clients with more professional and systematic services, including thorough commercial district analysis and strategy development based on specialized data, and support for the international expansion of medical brands."

Ryan Kim, Head of Retail, Advisory & Transaction Services, of CBRE Korea, added, “The number of foreign tourists has recovered to about 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels as of May 2024 compared to May 2019, driving the revitalization of traditional commercial districts and the growth of specialized markets targeting this demand. CBRE will continue to expand its professional services in commercial real estate to align with the dynamic changes in the domestic retail market.”