SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- South Korean banks' household lending fell for the second straight month due to weaker demand for credit loans, central bank data showed Wednesday.

Debt owed by households to deposit-taking banks totaled 1,140.5 trillion won (786.3 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of January, down 500 billion won (344.7 million dollars) from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It continued to slide since December last year when the household lending shrank by 400 billion won (275.8 million dollars).

Banks' mortgage loan gained 1.7 trillion won (1.2 billion dollars) last month, but other loans to households, including credit loan, credit line and commercial real estate-backed loan, declined 2.1 trillion won (1.5 billion dollars).

The housing market remained sluggish. The number of apartment transactions nationwide declined from 38,000 in October to 31,000 in November and 27,000 in December last year.

The BOK cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points in October and November last year each to 3.00 percent.

Banks' corporate loan stood at 1,322.9 trillion won (912.1 billion dollars) at the end of January, up 7.8 trillion won (5.4 billion dollars) from a month earlier.

Lending to big companies mounted 6.1 trillion won (4.2 billion dollars), while loan to small firms climbed 1.8 trillion won (1.2 billion dollars) last month. Enditem

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