This past November, I attended the SAIF 2012 Institutional Real Estate Conference in Seoul. This conference, originally started by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Korea (EUCCK), was in its third year and this time was organised by Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers and EUCCK.

As in previous years, this event managed to attract a lot of institutional investors from South Korea, as well as Europe and the United States. I had an opportunity to attend many interesting presentations and discussions, and also moderated a panel that included Korean, US and European investors. In many ways, this event serves as a barometer for the investment sentiment of Korean investors and their plans for the near and medium term, so I wanted to share some of my observations with you.

Korean investors have been active in overseas real