SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's household credit rebounded in the second quarter due to strong demand for mortgage loan, central bank data showed Tuesday.

Household credit, which refers to debts owed by households to banks and other lenders in addition to the purchase on credit, stood at 1,896.2 trillion won (1.42 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of June, up 13.8 trillion won (10.4 billion dollars) from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It turned around after slipping 3.1 trillion won (2.3 billion dollars) in the January-March quarter on the back of solid demand for home-backed loan, affected by higher housing transactions.

The number of housing transactions across the country grew to 171,000 in the second quarter from 139,000 in the first quarter.

The BOK had left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.50 percent since January 2023, after lifting it by 3 percentage points for the past one and a half years.

Excluding the purchase on credit, household debt expanded 13.5 trillion won (10.1 billion dollars) from three months earlier to 1,780.0 won (1.34 trillion dollars) at the end of June.

Mortgage loan to households jumped 16.0 trillion won (12 billion dollars) during the April-June quarter on the offer of government-backed mortgage loans and the eased regulations to prop up the faltering housing market.

Other loan to households, such as credit loan, declined 2.5 trillion won (1.9 billion dollars) during the second quarter.

The purchase on credit added 300 billion won (225.1 million dollars) in the second quarter, rebounding from a slide of 2.3 trillion won (1.7 billion dollars) in the first quarter. Enditem

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