Kim Hak-kyu, chairman of the Korea Real Estate Board. (Photos: Korea Real Estate Board)

The Korea Appraisal Board held an official launching ceremony at its headquarters in Daegu on Dec. 10, proclaiming Korea Real Estate Board as its new name.

The Korea Real Estate Board surveys and manages real estate and announces the public disclosure of activities in the real estate market, as well as statistics regarding real estate issues.

It is also responsible for investigations into the real estate market, the disclosure of real estate prices, and the management of real estate statistics and information.

Since Sept. 1, 2016, the Korea Appraisal Board has withdrawn from its real estate appraisal business following the enactment of the Korea Appraisal Board Act.

But the organization changed its name in 51 years since its establishment thanks to a revision of related law in May as many experts pointed out that the word “appraisal” was included in the organization’s name, confusing the general public.

The newly established Korea Real Estate Board Act also contains legal grounds for supporting the government's various real estate policies about urban areas, architecture and real estate including computer management and support for the subscription to the sale of houses and other buildings and the provision of real estate-related information and advice.

Since the inauguration of the Moon Jae-in Administration, the Korea Real Estate Board has been exploring new business territory instead of the real estate appraisal business.

In addition to housing and residential trends and conducting surveys on housing and land prices, the board has been in charge of managing the housing subscription market, including the management of a website for those interested in subscribing for houses, in particular, apartments.

The Korea Real Estate Board took over tasks from the Korea Financial Telecommunications & Clearings Institute, a private organization, in February of this year.

At the time, subscription management became more important than ever as the nation was gripped by a lottery-like subscription fever that began in the second half of 2019.

As the government went the extra mile to eradicate real estate speculations, a lot of attention has been paid to the Standing Real-Estate Transaction Investigation Team and the Real Estate Market Disturbance Reporting Center at the Korea Real Estate Board.

Moreover, the government strengthened its roles to monitor sale prices such as verifying construction costs in reconstruction and redevelopment projects, and the appropriateness of prices of land for apartment complexes subject to the Apartment Price Limit System.

An ad about the Korea Real Estate Board.

The Korea Real Estate Board will further expand its functions of consumer protection and real estate market management through the newly established Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) Fraud Reporting Center and the Lease Dispute Mediation Committee.

“The Korea Appraisal Board will be reborn as the Korea Real Estate Board, an agency specializing in real estate platforms powered by state-of-the-art ICT technology, in order to take a step closer to the people with its experience and know-how accumulated over the past half century,” said Kim Hak-kyu, head of the Korea Real Estate Board.

In the meantime, the Korea Real Estate Board announced on December 9 that it was selected as an excellent institution by the Board of Audit and Inspection through its review activities so received a commendation from the chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection.

The Board of Audit and Inspection reviewed the self-audit activities of a total of 637 institutions, including central administrative agencies, local governments and state-run companies, and selected 11 of them as excellent self-audit organizations. Only four were among the 11.

The Korea Real Estate Board took the honor of becoming an excellent self-audit organization by introducing an advanced consulting system, expanding the number of external audit advisors, inducing self-inspections to strengthen internal control, and conducting a review system dedicated to constant audits.

“I think the Korea Real Estate Board was selected as an excellent institution by the Board of Audit and Inspection thanks to all employees’ sincere fulfillment of their responsibilities,” said a standing auditor at the Korea Real Estate Board.

“We will step up our efforts to make the Korea Real Estate Board meet the needs of the people by strengthening our expertise in auditing through fair and transparent audit activities.”