A surge in operating performance and buyer demand is prompting foreign investors to accelerate exits from downtown Seoul hotels. With post-COVID travel recovery and the K-culture tailwind driving faster-than-expected revenue growth, several assets are lining up for sale sooner than originally planned.

voco Seoul Myeongdong (formerly Tmark Grand Myeongdong), Nine Tree Insadong, and the Myeongdong Cheonghui Building are all expected to come to market. Across 2025 to date, achieved and bid pricing in hotel trades has risen more than 30% year over year on a per-key basis.

In early 2024, TPG Angelo Gordon, alongside Gravity Asset Management, acquired the former Tmark Grand in Myeongdong for KRW 226.7 billion—about KRW 394 million per key—excluding ancillary costs. Notably, 30% of the purchase price (roughly KRW 69.0 billion) is payable in January 2027, three years after title transfer.

Gravity invested approximately KRW 6.2 billion in renovations, underwriting 2025 metrics at an ADR of KRW 206,000 and 70% occupancy. Year-to-date ADR is tracking near plan while occupancy has exceeded 80%, indicating a sharper-than-modeled rebound. Originally slated for an exit after 2028, Angelo Gordon has decided to pursue an early sale, encouraged by the strength of Korea’s hotel investment market.

At acquisition, the buyer obtained a KRW 137.4 billion mortgage and has paid 70% of the total price to date, putting equity invested at roughly KRW 47.6 billion. If an early disposition clears at today’s market levels, the transaction is positioned to deliver substantial returns.

U.K. manager Actis is also assessing sale timing for “Annyeong Insadong,” a complex comprising retail and the Nine Tree Hotel. Hotel performance has clearly improved since last year, but retail has yet to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels—drawing interest from investors evaluating retail-to-hotel conversion angles.

Separately, Morgan Stanley’s Myeongdong Cheonghui Building is on the block. The property combines lower-floor retail with a 152-room, four-star hotel (Sotetsu Fresa Myeongdong) spanning floors 4 to 13.

Pricing momentum is evident across recent benchmarks:

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  Four Points Seoul Station closed in March at KRW 172.0 billion (about KRW 500 million per key), excluding ancillary costs.

• In July, Pacific Asset Management bid KRW 246.0 billion for Four Points Myeongdong—above KRW 650 million per key—roughly a 30% jump within months.

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  KT&G’s Courtyard Marriott Namdaemun was initially expected to trade in the mid-KRW 500 million per key range, but Heungkuk REITs Management bid about KRW 630 million per key (KRW 255.0 billion total).

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  Even Shilla Stay—typically less favored given its master-lease structure—has re-rated: Shilla Stay Mapo sold in late May at KRW 374.3 million per key, while KB Asset Management’s preferred-bidder price in early September implies about KRW 470 million per key.

“With sale prices jumping, foreign sponsors are leaning in and bringing exits forward,” said an executive at a domestic investment firm. “Confidence is back, and timing the top matters.”