The growth of household loans by South Korean banks sharply slowed in July as housing transactions became sluggish after a tax benefit over home purchasing expired, the central bank said Wednesday.

Household loans by local banks, including home-backed and credit loans, reached 470 trillion won ($421.4 billion) as of end-July, up 100 billion won from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea.

In June, household loans grew 4.8 trillion won, the largest monthly growth in six months, as more people took out bank loans ahead of an end-June expiry of the government’s tax break over home buying.

The tax break is part of the government’s measures to boost the slumping property market. (Yonhap News)