Household loans during the first quarter have dropped by 200 billion won, or around 147 million U.S. dollars, compared to the previous quarter, turning to a reduction for the first time in four quarters.

According to the Bank of Korea(BOK) on Tuesday, provisional data from the January-to-March period showed that the household debt balance was some one-point-eight trillion won as of the end of March, down 200 billion won from three months earlier.

The drop was attributed to a slowdown in the rise of housing mortgage loans, with the margin of increase falling from 15-point-two trillion won in the fourth quarter last year to 12-point-four trillion won in Q1 this year.

Other loans, such as credit loans, dropped by 12-point-six trillion won, continuing a ten-quarter streak of decline.
 
Amid a decrease in credit card use, households' sales credit balance was 115-point-eight trillion won, down two-point-three trillion won from three months earlier.