Bank Household Loan Balance Surpasses 1,000 Trillion Won for the First Time Ever

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunbyeol Kim] Bank household loans have surpassed 1,000 trillion won for the first time in history. This is the result of a sharp increase in household loans due to the craze for 'Debt Investment (Bitt?)', and 'Soul Borrowing (Youngkkeul)'.

According to the Bank of Korea's "Financial Market Trends in February 2021" released on the 10th, the balance of bank household loans at the end of February reached 1,003.1 trillion won, exceeding the 1,000 trillion won mark for the first time ever. It increased by 6.7 trillion won compared to the previous month, showing a somewhat reduced growth rate compared to the previous month (7.6 trillion won), but it was the second highest increase among all Februaries, following February last year (9.3 trillion won).

Household mortgage loans increased by 6.4 trillion won. This is 1.3 trillion won more than the increase of 5 trillion won in the previous month, making it the second largest increase in February after February last year (7.8 trillion won).

This is interpreted as being due to the continued demand for funds related to housing sales transactions and a significant increase in jeonse deposit loans. Jeonse deposit loans increased by about 3.4 trillion won last month, a larger increase compared to 2.4 trillion won in the previous month.

Park Sung-jin, Deputy Head of the Market General Team at the Bank of Korea's Financial Market Department, said, "Household loans have shown a high growth rate since COVID-19," adding, "This is the result of a complex combination of factors including rising real estate prices and the demand for living expenses due to the impact of COVID-19."

Other loans such as credit loans and overdraft accounts, which surged at the beginning of the year, increased by only 300 billion won, showing a slowdown in growth. This was influenced by the effect of the influx of Lunar New Year bonuses and a slowdown in individual stock investment fund demand due to last month's stock market adjustment. It is also analyzed that banks raising the credit loan threshold for risk management had an impact.

Bank corporate loans increased by 8.9 trillion won to 995.3 trillion won. This is the largest increase among all Februaries on record. Loans to small and medium-sized enterprises increased the overall corporate loan growth. While large corporate loans increased by 600 billion won, loans to small and medium-sized enterprises increased by 8.4 trillion won.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.