Household loans fall as banks maintain tight lending rules: data

Household loan figures fell for the first time in six months in September, as major banks maintain strict lending rules, according to data compiled by The Korea Times. Outstanding household loans at five major lenders reached 781.39 trillion won ($580.49 billion) as of Thursday, a decrease of 727.6 billion won from the end of August.

Notably, mortgage loans declined to 620.5 trillion won from 621.2 trillion won, despite the government relaxing the cap on household loans. Banks, however, continue to enforce self-imposed restrictions, receiving additional quotas from financial authorities that increased their annual household loan growth target from 4.3 trillion won in 2025 to 7.1 trillion won.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.