Open Market Emerges in Real Estate Development... 'DealMatch' Surpasses 7 Trillion Won in Transaction Applications Within One Year

Recognized 'Efficiency' Dividing Before and After DealMatch, Contributing to Market Activation
CEO Jo Won-jeong: "We Will Grow DealMatch into the Standard Open Market for Real Estate Development"

#Mr. A, who owns 2,000 pyeong of land in Busan, wanted to sell the land to purchase a new house and listed it with nearby real estate agencies, but no one came to see the land for several months. He accessed DealMatch, wrote about the surrounding environment and usage of the land, and registered a transaction request. Within a week, he received inquiries from Seoul and Cheonan from people interested in viewing the land, and after a month, he signed a land sale contract with a buyer from Seoul who wanted to develop a factory due to the good transportation environment around the land.

#Mr. B, team leader of Team B at a certain securities firm, was in charge of financial advisory for a lodging facility development project in Jeju Island and needed to raise 50 billion KRW in subordinated loans. He tried to raise funds through his network, but due to low market interest in hotel development, it was difficult. To meet more lenders, he registered the project on DealMatch and received five financial proposals over two months, allowing him to negotiate with lenders.

Jo Won-jeong, CEO of Wamblood.
Photo by Kim Jong-hwa

The total deal amount registered by over 2,300 subscribers is 7.2 trillion KRW. This is the achievement of DealMatch, an open market for real estate development projects, which opened in June last year and has reached this milestone in just 1 year and 2 months.

According to the KDB Future Strategy Institute, as of the end of last year, the domestic real estate development market reached a scale of 254.7 trillion KRW, combining 130 trillion KRW in real estate project financing and 124.7 trillion KRW in corporate finance, and it continues to show growth this year.

An open market has emerged in the real estate development industry, attracting attention. Real estate development requires collaboration among numerous companies such as developers and financial institutions. Previously, partners were found through personal networks or by seeking investors, advisors, and service providers via online communities. However, DealMatch, a specialized open market for real estate development, is pioneering this market. Anyone?developers, financial institutions, advisory firms, service providers, landowners, appraisers?can simply register their transactions on DealMatch.

The total deal amount registered by over 2,300 subscribers is 7.2 trillion KRW. This is the achievement of DealMatch, an open market for real estate development projects, which opened in June last year and has reached this milestone in just 1 year and 2 months. A team leader in real estate finance at a major securities firm evaluated, "Since using DealMatch, it has become easy to handle everything from fundraising for real estate development to various advisory and service needs."

DealMatch’s operating company, Womblrd, was founded in May 2022. CEO Wonjeong Jo said, "Someone was bound to start this business, and I was confident that if I started it first, I could capture the market." He added, "Before DealMatch, the domestic real estate development market was like a delivery market without Baedal Minjok (Baemin). Now, DealMatch is playing the role of 'Baemin' in the real estate development market," and said, "We will grow DealMatch into the standard open market for real estate development."

CEO Jo worked in real estate development for 11 years at Hyundai Construction and Shinhan Investment Corp. In 2021, during the acquisition and development of the Seoul Hilton Hotel by Aegis Asset Management, where Shinhan Investment Corp. acted as the lead manager and raised 1.44 trillion KRW in acquisition and development funds, he experienced negotiating and coordinating with over 140 lenders of various sizes, which made him realize the need for an efficient system and led to his decision to start the company.

DealMatch offers two services: an 'open market' and a 'private market' for clients who do not want to disclose their deals publicly. The open market does not charge fees, while only the private market charges fees. Currently, private market fees are the sole source of revenue for DealMatch. Instead of charging fees for the open market, they are developing revenue models such as providing business tools to targeted customers and charging for their use. Services for overseas market participants are also being prepared. The English site has been completed, and detailed system development is underway.

CEO Jo said, "We are pursuing revenue activation plans such as providing specific service tools requested by customers, attracting overseas deals, and platform upgrades through generative artificial intelligence (AI)," and added, "Within two years, open market revenue will surpass private market revenue."