Outstanding household credit reached a record high of one-thousand-886-point-four trillion won, or around one-point-41 trillion U.S. dollars, as of the end of December 2023, up eight trillion won from three months earlier.

According to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea(BOK) on Tuesday, the latest figure is mainly due to home mortgage loans increasing by more than 15 trillion won despite high borrowing costs, and an increase in credit card use.

Of the total, household loans stood at a record high of one-thousand-768-point-three trillion won in the fourth quarter of last year, up six-point-five trillion won from the third quarter.

However, the country's household credit growth slowed in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the previous quarter, as July to August last year saw an increase of a record 17 trillion won from the previous quarter.

Other loans, including credit loans decreased by eight-point-seven trillion won, maintaining a downward trend for nine consecutive quarters.