South Korea’s household lending accelerates in January

However, there was a fall in housing sale transactions in the past month.

South Korean banks’ household lending rose by KRW4.3t in January, accelerating from the KRW3.1t rise recorded in December.

Home mortgage lending reportedly showed growth similar to the previous month, at KRW4.9t. This was due to it being affected by a fall in housing sale transactions, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

Other loans declined, influenced mainly by inflows of bonus payments at the beginning of the year, the BOK said. However, the extent of decline was smaller than that in the previous month.