South Korea mortgage loan growth accelerates

South Korean banks’ mortgage lending to households in March grew at a faster pace, boosting overall household loans, on lower lending rates and more new home supply, central bank data showed on Thursday. Household mortgage loans rose by ?1.68trn (US$1.49bn) in March from the previous month to ?267.2trn after adding ?701.7bn won in February, the Bank of Korea said in a statement. Overall lending to households also rose ?1.94trn in March from the prior month to ?409.3trn, the central bank said.