Household loans up 9.4% in July

South Korea's household loans extended by banks rose 9.4 percent in July from a year earlier due to increased mortgages, central bank data showed Wednesday.

Outstanding household loans from lenders came to 737.7 trillion won ($650 billion) as of the end of last month, compared with 673.7 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.

Compared with June, the amount rose by 6.7 trillion won.

Mortgages climbed 4.8 trillion won on-month to 554.6 trillion won in July due to a steady rise in demand for collective loans and brisk home sales, the BOK said. Collective loans are often associated with the reconstruction projects involving old apartments.

As of end-March, South Korea's overall household debt came to a record high of 1,360 trillion won, up 11.1 percent from 1,224 trillion won a year earlier.

In July, banks' outstanding corporate loans came to 771 trillion won, up 7.1 trillion won from the previous month. (Yonhap)