Fresh loans extended to local households by banks grew at a faster pace from a month before in June, while the rise in loans to businesses significantly slowed amid sluggish demand and investment, central bank data showed on July 11.

Fresh loans extended to local households amounted to 5.4 trillion won ($4.6 billion) last month, picking up from 5 trillion won the month before, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.

Home-backed loans grew to 3.9 trillion won in June from 2.9 trillion won the previous month, while other household loans dropped to 1.5 trillion won from 2.1 trillion won over the cited period.

The central bank attributed the rise in home-backed loans to a sharp increase in the number of people moving into their new homes.

Corporate loan growth, on the other hand, slowed to 2.1 trillion won last month from 6.0 trillion won in May.

The drop was largely attributed to a cut in borrowing by large conglomerates, which dropped from an increase of 600 billion won in May to minus 2.2 trillion won last month.

Borrowing by smaller firms also dwindled from 5.4 trillion won to 4.3 trillion won over the cited period, according to BOK.

As of end-June, outstanding bank loans to local companies came to 851.9 trillion won. Outstanding loans to households stood at 848.9 trillion won.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)