Singer Seo Tae-ji, one of Korea’s biggest pop culture icons, owned the most expensive building among entertainers here, Chaebul.com found Tuesday.

The online portal, devoted to following the activities of rich and large companies, conducted a survey on 28 buildings in Seoul owned by 26 of the most famous celebrities in Korea.

With nine of them exceeding 10 billion won ($8.6 million) in value, Seo’s building was the most expensive, worth 29.53 billion won. The 3,729.4 square-meter building, which Seo purchased in 2002, sits on a 722.5 square-meter site in Nonhyun-dong, southern Seoul.

Next to Seo was Korea’s so-called “Hollywood” couple -- Jang Dong-gun and Koh So-young -- whose three buildings totaled 28.26 billion won in value. Koh had two buildings in southern Seoul worth 15.65 billion won, while Jang recently purchased a building in Hannam-dong, northern Seoul, for 12.61 billion won.

Another famous couple in the acting field, Cha In-pyo and Shin Ae-ra, owned the third-most expensive building in the luxury district of Cheongdam-dong worth 22.34 billion won. Next to actor Park Joong-hoon who owns a 14.06 billion won building in Yeoksam-dong, Jang Keun-suk, an emerging Hallyu star in Japan, stood at fifth with his 14 billion won building, also in Cheongdam-dong.

Of the 28 buildings surveyed, 25 were located in the most posh districts of Gangnam or southern Seoul, with 13 in Cheongdam-dong. There were two in Gangbuk and one in Gangdong.

Cheongdam and Sinsa, which are emerging as the hot spots for fashion and dining, have become a new wealthy village. Some conglomerate family heiresses such as Lee Seo-hyun, younger daughter of Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee, and Jang Sun-yoon, daughter of Lotte Shopping president Shin Yong-ja, also own buildings there. 



By Lee Ji-yoon
(jylee@heraldcorp.com)