Apartment buildings in Seoul, Feb. 19 / Yonhap
Household loans extended by Korean banks fell for the third consecutive month in February amid tightened lending regulations, though mortgage-backed loans rebounded slightly due to seasonal demand in moving, central bank data showed Wednesday.
Outstanding household loans stood at 1,172.3 trillion won ($799.11 billion) at the end of February, down 300 billion won from a month earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).
Household loans have recorded a downward trend since December, as the government has maintained tighter loan and home purchase regulations since last year in response to surging housing prices in Seoul and parts of the greater metropolitan area.
President Lee Jae Myung has reiterated his strong commitment to stabilizing the real estate market and issued strong verbal warnings against multiple home owners.
Home-backed loans, however, gained 400 billion won from a month earlier to come to 934.9 trillion won in February, rebounding from a 600 billion-won decline the previous month. It marked the first on-month increase since November.
Unsecured and other household loans, however, fell 700 billion won on-month, following a 400 billion-won decrease in January.
"The increase in mortgage loans was due to increased home transactions and moving demand ahead of the new school semester," Park Min-cheol, deputy head of the BOK's market operations team, told a press briefing.
"Other loans continued their downward trend due to inflows of holiday allowances and performance bonuses, though the decline was modest in line with increasing demand for stock investments," he added.
Corporate loans, on the other hand, rose 9.6 trillion won from a month earlier in February, following a 5.7 trillion-won gain the previous month. Outstanding corporate loans stood at 1,379.2 trillion won as of end-February, the data showed.
Source: Korea Times News
