APG, Pebblestone, Invesco See Korean Sheds Overcoming Trade War: MTD TV

Leasing demand propelled by rapid e-commerce growth will protect South Korea’s domestic-focused warehouse sector from trade war fallout, according to executives from APG, Pebblestone and Invesco who spoke at Mingtiandi’s 2025 APAC Logistics Forum on Tuesday. Watch the full recording>>

An affluent population and the internet shopping boom are attracting global logistics players to Asia’s fourth-largest economy, the guests told MTD TV viewers during the forum, which is sponsored by Yardi. Trades of income-earning logistics properties in South Korea rose 51 percent last year compared with 2023 levels, per MSCI, with Greater Seoul continuing to provide investment opportunities in core industrial assets.

South Korea enjoys less exposure to the US Trump administration’s proposed tariffs when compared with the region’s developing markets, said Brian Hung, a director on the APAC real estate team at APG, which manages funds on behalf of Dutch pensioners. Exports to America account for just 7 percent of South Korea’s GDP, while Vietnam’s US-bound shipments make up 31 percent.

“In Korea, I think, it’s still driven predominantly by domestic consumption and the e-commerce growth story,” Hung said. “Therefore we feel, although tariffs will have an impact, it will probably be less of an impact compared to the emerging markets.”

Weathering the Storm

The trade row has seen Korean logistics tenants adopting a more cautious approach to leasing decisions, said Hung, who noted that the effects of the dispute could include a surprise boost from a giant neighbour.

“These e-commerce players in China have been doing business in Korea as well, but not directly having their operations in warehousing onshore,” Hung told MTD TV. “With the global trade wars and tariffs obviously impacting China, they are now trying to diversify their business so that they’re building up business operations in Korea.”

Seoul-based Pebblestone recently surveyed 17 tenants at 10 of the asset manager’s properties and found that none expected their leasing needs to decline due to tariffs. Those polled included 15 clients handling goods for domestic sale and two whose primary export markets are China and Southeast Asia — not the US.

“So it seems its effect is rather limited for now, fortunately, but we need to be very careful in choosing our future tenants,” said Duke Lee, head of investment and asset management at Pebblestone, which teamed with US titan Blackstone on a $60 million warehouse buy last year.

For Invesco, which targets logistics assets within an 80 kilometre (50 mile) radius of central Seoul, last year’s investment surge signalled long-term confidence in the market’s fundamentals despite an oversupplied cold storage segment, said ST Hwang, a senior director in the real estate division of the US investment manager.

“Stabilised yields for logistics assets are currently estimated in the 5 to 6 percent range, which look quite attractive compared to the office sector,” Hwang said.

China Panel Up Next

The APAC Logistics Forum continues Thursday with a panel on opportunities and challenges in the region’s largest economy.

Joining MTD TV for a look at China logistics investment will be Tim Wang, co-president of logistics and industrial real estate at GLP China; Johnny Shao, managing director of CITIC Private Equity; and James Macdonald, head of research for China at Savills.

The panellists will discuss how rising tariffs, shifting global supply chains and ongoing trade tensions are reshaping China’s logistics sector as structural shifts drive demand.

After the interview portion, Mingtiandi’s team will moderate a live Q&A session in which viewers can quiz the speakers on their market outlooks and get direct insights from some of the region’s top experts in the logistics space.