Banking-sector household loans last month were tallied as down 1 trillion won from the previous month. As banks tightened household loan management more than in past years, the decline in mortgage loan for two straight months had a large impact.
According to the "Financial market trends in January" released by the Bank of Korea on the 11th, banks' outstanding loan balance of household loans last month was 1,172.7 trillion won. That is down 1 trillion won from Dec. 2025. However, the decline was smaller than the previous month (-2 trillion won).
Mortgage loan, which accounts for more than 80% of banking-sector household loans, fell by 600 billion won, leading the overall decrease. Mortgage loans declined for the second straight month following Dec. 2025 (-500 billion won). As a result, the outstanding mortgage loan balance was 934.6 trillion won.
Park Min-cheol, head of the Bank of Korea's Financial Markets Department, said, "Banks typically tighten household loans at the end of the year and ease them at the start of the year," but added, "This year, because the government's annual management target has not yet been announced, banks are operating funds conservatively."
Other household loans, including unsecured loans (237.2 trillion won), also decreased by 400 billion won. This, too, fell for the second straight month. Park said, "There was an inflow effect from year-start bonuses, but as domestic and overseas stock investing expanded, the decline narrowed compared with the average in past years."
Corporate loans (1,369.6 trillion won) increased by 5.7 trillion won from the previous month. Loans to small and midsize enterprises (1,071.2 trillion won) rose 2.3 trillion won, and loans to large corporations (298.4 trillion won) increased 3.4 trillion won. Loans to small and midsize enterprises grew as major banks expanded lending sales at the start of the year, while loans to large corporations increased as funds that had been temporarily repaid to manage year-end financial ratios were borrowed again.
Meanwhile, bank deposits fell by 50.8 trillion won from the previous month to 2,483.9 trillion won. This is the largest decline since related statistics began to be compiled. Demand deposits (945.3 trillion won), which had temporarily flowed in mainly from corporate funds in Dec. 2025, fell by 49.7 trillion won last month, which had a large impact. Time deposits decreased by 1 trillion won to 1,065.5 trillion won.