▲ This file photo taken May 8, 2026, shows apartment buildings in Seoul. (Yonhap)

household credit-Q1 tally

Household credit rises for 8th quarter in Q1 amid tighter lending regulations

SEOUL, May 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's household credit rose for the eight consecutive quarter in the first three months of this year, but the pace of growth slowed slightly amid tighter lending regulations, central bank data showed Tuesday.

Outstanding household credit stood at 1,993.1 trillion won (US$1.33 trillion) as of end-March, up 14 trillion won from three months earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It marked the eighth consecutive quarterly increase since the second quarter of 2024, while the pace of on-quarter growth slowed for the third straight quarter.

Household credit refers to credit purchases and loans extended to households by financial institutions.

"Given the authorities' ongoing focus on managing household debt, household credit is not expected to increase significantly," BOK official Lee Hye-young told a press briefing. "However, as housing transactions have been rising recently, this trend warrants close attention."

She noted that home sales, particularly in Seoul, had increased in recent months ahead of the expiration of temporary exemptions from higher real estate transfer taxes for owners of multiple homes earlier this month.

In detail, household loans stood at 1,865.8 trillion won at the end of March, up 12.9 trillion won from three months earlier, accelerating from an 11.3 trillion-won increase in the previous quarter. Of the total, mortgage lending rose 8.1 trillion won to 1,178.6 trillion won.

Credit purchases climbed 1.1 trillion won on-quarter to 127.3 trillion won, slowing from a 3 trillion-won rise in the fourth quarter, the data showed.

In October last year, the government imposed stricter rules on home purchase loans to cool the overheated property market and rein in household debt.

All 25 districts in Seoul have been designated as speculative zones, while tightened lending rules lowered the ceiling on home-backed mortgage loans to as little as 200 million won per home worth 2.5 billion won or more.

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