With the KOSPI approaching the 9,000 mark, investment decisions made last year by Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Lee Chan-jin, who chose "stocks over real estate," are drawing renewed attention. Following a multi-home ownership controversy, Lee sold his apartment and invested the proceeds in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and those holdings are now estimated to have generated substantial returns amid the recent market rally.
According to the financial investment industry on Wednesday, Lee sold his apartment in Umyeon-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, in October last year and used the down payment to invest in ETFs tracking the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indexes. At the time, Lee disposed of the apartment, which he co-owned with his spouse, for 1.8 billion won. He reportedly visited a KB Securities branch on the day the contract was signed to subscribe to the related products.
Specific holdings and amounts have not been disclosed. However, the market estimates that roughly 200 million won was invested, considering typical down payment sizes.
Since the time of investment, Korean equities have continued a steep upward trajectory. KODEX 200, the flagship ETF tracking the KOSPI 200 index, has risen more than 150% from late October last year through Monday. Other major KOSPI 200 ETFs, including TIGER 200, ACE 200, and RISE 200, have shown similar trends.
For this reason, assuming the entire down payment was invested in KOSPI 200 ETFs, valuation gains alone could have exceeded 300 million won. The KOSPI has surged from around 4,000 last year to above 8,800 as of Wednesday.
KOSDAQ investment performance has also been solid. Over the same period, ETFs tracking the KOSDAQ 150 index rose about 20%. Some analysts say that if Lee had split his investment evenly between KOSPI and KOSDAQ ETFs, valuation gains could reach the high 100-million-won range. However, since the actual investment proportions have not been disclosed, these figures are merely simple estimates.
At a press briefing in February this year, Lee responded to a question about his investment performance by saying, "The returns are quite good." At the time, he said, "When the balance from the apartment sale comes in, I plan to make additional ETF investments," adding, "It would have been better had I bought in installments, but the result is satisfactory."
What draws particular attention is the comparison with real estate investment. The recent transaction price of the Umyeon-dong apartment Lee sold for 1.8 billion won last year is reportedly around 1.95 billion won. While that represents a gain of about 150 million won over the sale price, if the ETF investment returns are realized as estimated, the upside could significantly exceed that figure.
Some in the market view this as a symbolic case illustrating the government's emphasized policy direction of channeling real estate capital into the capital markets. However, since the actual investment size, holdings, and returns have not been disclosed, the currently cited gains are also estimates based on disclosed index performance.
Meanwhile, according to asset disclosures released by the Government Public Service Ethics Committee, Lee's assets totaled 40.73228 billion won as of the end of last year. This represents an increase of 2.24353 billion won from shortly after his inauguration, the largest in both asset size and growth among senior financial sector officials.
