South Korea’s finance ministry announced Monday it will ease regulations on real estate investment trusts (REITs) to help normalise the real estate project financing sector. The government will create “project REITs”, drastically lifting regulations to allow more small investors to participate, and expand REIT investment targets to include healthcare, data centres, and other promising fields. REITs are securities that invest in real estate, traded on major exchanges, providing investors with stakes in properties like office buildings, apartments, and hotels. This measure aims to address rising delinquencies in the real estate Project Finance (PF) sector amid a property market slump and high interest rates, supporting a soft landing for the debt. Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok emphasised the government’s efforts to broaden real estate investment benefits and normalise the PF market.