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Seoul’s Gangnam district has seen the highest citywide jump in real-estate prices in recent years.
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Credit-card debt, some housing loans down from last year
Debt per household in South Korea rose to 33.49 million won (35,350 USD) at the end of March, with total outstanding loans owed to financial institutions reaching 530 trillion won, according to the Bank of Korea. Debt per household at the end of last year stood at 30.55 million won. Bank lending to households climbed 1.4 percent to the end of March from the same period a year ago, as this year’s period saw a record 528.8 trillion won in loans meted out to customers, as opposed to last year’s 7.3 trillion won. This continues the steady pattern of increase seen since March 2005. Partly due to the effects of government measures implemented at the end of August last year designed to cool down price hikes in the housing market, bank lending to households rose by 5 trillion won, compared with an increase of 6 trillion won during the same period last year. Debt that households owed to non-banking financial institutions fell by 900 billion won, compared with an increase of 3.6 trillion won last year. Credit-card loans fell by 100 billion won, compared with an increase of 2.5 trillion won during last year’s period.Of all first-quarter bank loans, 52.1 percent were used for buying homes. Of total mortgage loans, the number of loans higher than 10 years in duration rose to 51.5 percent for the first time.
