Anxiety grows as mortgage delinquencies surge among heavily indebted borrowers

Mortgage delinquency at South Korean banks has more than doubled in three and a half years, intensifying concern about household debt and repayment burdens.

Data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to People Power Party lawmaker Park Seong-hun showed that banks’ outstanding mortgage-loan balances rose from 644.3 trillion won at the end of 2022 to 779.2 trillion won at the end of June, a 21% increase.

“

It seems that more and more borrowers who held on and held on are finally reaching their limit.

Over the same period, loans overdue on principal or interest for at least one month jumped from 1 trillion won to 2.2 trillion won. The delinquent balance grew six times faster than the overall mortgage balance.

After the figures became public, users on online forums and social media described the pressure of servicing loans during a prolonged period of high interest rates. One wrote, "It seems that more and more borrowers who held on and held on are finally reaching their limit," adding that people nearby were suffering severe stress from interest payments and that the situation did not feel like someone else’s problem.

“

People nearby are suffering so much stress from the interest burden that this does not feel like someone else’s problem.