SEOUL, July 10 (Xinhua) -- South Korean banks' household lending rose for the third straight month due to strong demand for mortgage loan, central bank data showed Wednesday.
Debt owed by households to deposit-taking banks expanded 6.0 trillion won (4.3 billion U.S. dollars) from a month earlier to 1,115.5 trillion won (805.8 billion dollars) at the end of June, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It continued to increase since April on expectations for policy rate cuts by the end of this year.
The BOK had left its policy rate unchanged at 3.50 percent since January last year after raising it by 3.0 percentage points for the past one and a half years.
Banks' mortgage loan climbed 6.3 trillion won (4.6 billion dollars) in the cited month, marking the fastest expansion in 10 months since August last year.
Other loans to households, including credit loan, credit line and commercial real estate-backed loan, decreased 300 billion won (216.7 million dollars) last month.
Banks' corporate loan amounted to 1,296.9 trillion won (936.9 billion dollars) at the end of June, up 5.3 trillion won (3.8 billion dollars) from a month earlier.
Lending to big companies swelled 700 billion won (505.7 million dollars), and loan to small firms gained 4.6 trillion won (3.3 billion dollars) last month. ■
