1 week Ago By Korea Bizwire
This photo taken March 18, 2025, shows apartment complexes in Seoul. (Image courtesy of Yonhap) SEOUL, April 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Household loans extended by South Korean banks rose for the second consecutive month in March, central bank data showed Wednesday, amid rising housing prices in the affluent districts of southern Seoul following state deregulatory moves. Banks’ outstanding household loans stood at 1,145 trillion won (US$774.
12 billion) as of end-March, up 1.4 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the second consecutive month of increase, though the loan growth slowed from a 3.
2 trillion won surge in February. March’s increase came as banks eased some regulations at the beginning of the year, while demand for loans grew during the moving season. In mid-February, the Seoul municipal government also relaxed the so-called land transaction permission scheme in parts of the city’s wealthy districts.
Following a sharp rise in real estate prices in those areas, however, the city government reinstated the scheme and tightened property market regulations, requiring prior approval from local authorities for any apartment transactions. Home-backed loans went up 2.2 trillion won from a month earlier to stand at 909.
9 trillion won as of end-March, decelerating from 3.4 trillion-won growth in February. But unsecured or other types of loans extended by banks to households fell 900 billion won to 234.
2 trillion won over the cited period. Corporate loans fell 2.1 trillion won from a month earlier to 1,324.
3 trillion won in March, marking the first on-month drop in three months. The decline was driven by weak demand amid uncertain business conditions, tighter lending regulations and companies’ efforts to manage their financial ratios at the end of the first quarter, the BOK said. (Yonhap).
