[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s household debt secured against residential properties broke the 500 trillion won (US$ 436 billion) mark for the first time in June, central back data showed on July 13.

According to the Bank of Korea, household debt secured against residential properties rose 4.8 trillion won in June to reach 500.9 trillion won. 



Overall household debt hit 667.5 trillion won, up 6.6 trillion won from May. Compared to end of June 2015, the figure is 28.4 trillion won higher.

Experts say that increasing household debt is one of the biggest domestic risks for South Korea’s finance industry. However, members of BOK’s Monetary Policy Committee say that the country lacks a database for effectively monitoring household debt.

In contrast to household debt, corporate debt fell 1.2 trillion won from May to come in at 742.9 trillion won at the end of June, the data showed. In June, large companies’ debt fell 2.9 trillion won, while the figure for SMEs and small merchants rose 1.7 trillion won.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)