Building on Success: How Korea’s Real Estate Expertise Is Driving Development
Korea’s transformation from aid recipient to one of the World Bank’s key donors within a single generation stands as one of the most inspiring models for development and strengthening this association is the Korea–World Bank Partnership Facility (KWPF). It is a trust fund managed by the World Bank and is the largest the Government of Korea has with any Multilateral Development Bank (MDB). KWPF was established with the objective to support low- and middle-income countries adapt and apply Korea’s development experience and technical expertise to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth.
A defining feature of KWPF is the active role played by Korean institutions, which partner directly with World Bank Group task teams to share knowledge and support client countries on the ground. One such institution is the Korea Real Estate Board (REB), a recognized leader in land administration and real estate policy. Through KWPF, REB has partnered with many World Bank Group task teams, contributing its expertise to support client countries navigating land reforms and related challenges.
We reached out to Bongjoon Kim, Director, Global Cooperation Division to learn more about this partnership, what Korea’s experience has to offer, and how the exchange of expertise is helping countries build more equitable and sustainable land systems.
Q. Could you tell us about the Korea Real Estate Board (REB) and how its partnership with the Korea–World Bank Partnership Facility (KWPF) came about?
A: REB is a public institution that helps ensure transparent and reliable real estate policy. Established in 1969 as the Korea Appraisal Board, REB has grown from a valuation institution into a comprehensive public agency within Korea’s land and real estate policy framework. Today, its work covers mass valuation for property taxation, real estate market statistics, operation of real estate information systems, appraisal review, compensation, urban renewal, green building certification, and policy research. REB’s distinctive strength is that it combines policy, data, systems, and field valuation expertise within one institution. REB annually supports the public announcement of land and housing values nationwide, operates systems including Real Estate Transaction Management System (RTMS) and KRIMS, and provides the evidence base for government real estate policy and market monitoring.
Our collaboration with the World Bank Group through KWPF began in 2022 through the ‘Indonesia: Supporting Domestic Resource Mobilization for Infrastructure Investment through Improved Land and Property Valuation’, project. In the same year, the partnership was further solidified through a Memorandum of Understanding between the World Bank and REB, providing an institutional framework for cooperation on land and property valuation infrastructure, ICT-based and computer-assisted mass valuation, and digital innovations for valuation. REB has supported four World Bank task teams since then through KWPF-related projects, reaching Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
Q. What types of support has REB extended to client countries through this partnership, and could you share one experience that you found particularly rewarding?
A: Through KWPF, REB’s support has focused mainly on land administration, real estate mass valuation, property taxation, and digital real estate information systems. The work has not been limited to study tours. Apart from the Indonesian project mentioned previously, in Pakistan, under the KWPF project ‘Mass Land Valuation Pilot for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’, REB helped demonstrate how administrative records, geospatial data, and field surveys could be combined to produce evidence-based residential land values in a pilot area. In Nepal, Under the KWPF project, ‘Learning from Korea’s Experience on Land and Property Valuation and Taxation System’, REB prepared a technical documentation report on Korea’s land and property valuation and taxation system to assist policymakers in considering institutional, legal, and technological options. More recently, REB organized and delivered a capacity-building program for government officials from Bangladesh and Pakistan in Korea, which included lectures, system demonstrations, and site visits covering Korea’s public announcement system, property tax, cadastre, KRIMS, RTMS, and architectural information systems.
A rewarding experience: The Pakistan mass land valuation pilot was a particularly rewarding experience. It went beyond just knowledge sharing and tested a practical model in a real administrative context. Even with data limitations, the pilot demonstrated that mass valuation could be technically feasible when parcel data, GIS analysis, reference parcel selection, and field verification are combined. This was meaningful because Korea’s experience was adapted and translated into recommendations for fairer taxation, better data governance, and future scale-up.
read more: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2026/07/15/building-on-success-how-korea-s-real-estate-expertise-is-driving-development
