SEOUL: The finance ministry says it will ease regulations on real estate investment trusts (REITS) as part of efforts to help normalise the real estate project financing sector.

The government said yesterday it will create “project REITs” after drastically lifting regulations so as to allow a greater number of small investors to join the projects and will expand REIT investment targets to health care, data centres and other promising fields, according to the Economy and Finance Ministry.

REITs are a type of security that invests in real estate to be traded on major exchanges and provides investors with stakes in real estate, such as office buildings, apartments and hotels.

The measure came as South Korea is facing risks stemming from rising delinquencies in the real estate project financing sector amid the property market slump and high interest rates, and the government is striving to support an “orderly soft landing” for the debt to minimise its potential impact on the economy.

“The government will help allow more people to enjoy benefits from real estate developments,” Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said during an economy-related ministers’ meeting.

“We will continue efforts to normalise the project financing market.”

 - ANN