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© 2018 selection and editorial matter, Urmi Sengupta and Annapurna Shaw; individual chapters, the contributors. South Korea is currently one of the most industrialised countries in Asia. Its spectacular development over the last half century is generally recognised as having been one of the fastest in the world. At the end of the Korean War, South Korea was one of the poorest in the world, but today it boasts the world’s 15th largest economy. This achievement is generally attributed to political authoritarianism, extensive state intervention in the economy and a rapid liberalisation. Its free market economy which opened up to the international market was closely guarded by a developmental state. The housing and property markets have been an integral part of the mechanisms that have generated this impressive economic growth.