Household loans extended by South Korean lenders slightly slowed from the previous month but still remained high on robust home transactions, central bank data showed Wednesday.
  

Outstanding household loans extended by local banks totaled 601.9 trillion won ($509.1 billion) as of the end of last month, gaining 7.4 trillion won from June, according to the Bank of Korea.
  

The monthly gain was smaller than the 8.1 trillion-won increase in June but still bigger than the 7.3 trillion-won gain logged in May.
  

The BOK explained that low lending rates and robust property trade led to a continuous rise in household loans.
  

Demand for household loans has been on the rise in tandem with four rounds of rate cuts delivered by the central bank since August last year. The number of apartment transactions in Seoul, meanwhile, reached 12,100 units last month, more than double the average of 4,600 units in the month of July between 2006 and 2014.
  

Of the total, mortgage loans accounted for 6.5 trillion won, also slightly slowing from a 6.8 trillion-won growth in June.
  

Rising household debt has long been a policy bugbear for Asia's fourth-largest economy. Risks related with household debt were feared to further rise as the U.S. Federal Reserve readies to hike rates later this year.
  

In efforts to allay such risks, the financial watchdog unveiled a comprehensive package last month, which centers around inducing fixed-late roans and bolstering screening of borrowers' repayment abilities. (Yonhap)