SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's issuance of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) dropped last year owing to weaker demand for home-backed loans, caused by interest rate hikes, financial watchdog data showed Thursday.
The sale of the MBS, issued by the state-run Korea Housing Finance Corp. to securitize mortgage loans, amounted to 17.2 trillion won (14 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022, down 53.0 percent from the previous year, according to Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
The sharp fall came from higher borrowing costs that led to a lower demand for home-backed loans and a sluggish real estate market.
The country's central bank has tightened its monetary policy stance since August 2021, lifting its benchmark interest rate from a record low of 0.50 percent to 3.50 percent earlier this month.
The issuance of asset-backed securities (ABS), including the MBS, stood at 44.0 trillion won (35.7 billion dollars) last year, down 28.7 percent from the prior year.
The ABS issuance by financial firms grew 18.3 percent to 18.7 trillion won (15.2 billion dollars) in 2022, but the sale by industrial companies declined 12.5 percent to 8.2 trillion won (6.7 billion dollars).
The outstanding ABS issuance came to 230.4 trillion won (187 billion dollars) at the end of December last year, up 0.9 percent from a year earlier. ■
