Friday, June 14th, 2013
SEOUL, KOREA - The May balance of household loans by commercial banks has increased by a large margin. According to the Bank of Korea on June 12, the balance of loans outstanding made out to consumers in May was 465.1 trillion won, up 2.6 trillion won from the previous month.
During the months of January and February, the consumer loan balance decreased due to the expiration of tax cuts for home buyers in December 2012. Since March, however, the balance has kept rising for three consecutive months. In May, the balance of home mortgage loans rose 1.9 trillion won, with other types of loans increasing 700 billion won.
Including the mortgage accounts handed over to the Korea Housing Finance Corp. by the banks, the difference is bigger. If including the accounts assumed by the state-run finance corporation, the May household loan balance has increased 3.9 trillion won. In April, the balance had risen 4.2 trillion won.