(LEAD) Bank loans to households rise in August amid surge in secured home loans

(ATTN: ADDS data on non-bank loans in paragraph 4)

SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Yonhap) — Household loans from banks in South Korea rebounded in August from the previous month’s decline, driven in part by increased secured borrowing from homes, it showed Thursday. central bank data.

Outstanding household loans from banks stood at 1,060.8 trillion won ($771.2 billion) at the end of August, up 300 billion won from the previous month, data showed. the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The monthly rise followed a 300 billion won drop recorded the previous month, which marked the first contraction in four months. It came despite aggressive rate hikes by the central bank to rein in inflation, which pushed up overall borrowing costs for financial institutions.

Outstanding household loans, including non-bank loans, also increased by 800 billion won over the same period, according to separate data from the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Financial Supervisory Service ( FSS).

August’s rebound was partly due to an increase in secured home loans, which rose by 1.6 trillion won to 792.6 trillion won, the data showed.

Other types of loans, including unsecured loans, fell 1.3 trillion won to 266.8 trillion won.

Banks’ business loans, meanwhile, rose for the eighth consecutive month in August.

Outstanding business loans stood at 1,146.1 trillion won at the end of August, up 8.7 trillion won from the previous month. This marked the fastest rate of increase for a month of August since the relevant data was compiled in June 2009.