Bank mortgage rates fall to 17-month low in Dec.

SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Yonhap) -- South Korean banks' annual mortgage rates fell to the lowest level in 17 months in December in line with a decline in five-year bank bonds' interest rates, the central bank said Wednesday.

Bank mortgages averaged at 4.16 percent in December, down 0.32 percentage point from a month earlier. The mortgage rates marked the same level of 4.16 percent in July 2022, according to data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

Of home mortgage loans extended by banks, fixed rates and floating rates stood at 4.17 percent and 4.14 percent, respectively, last month, down from the previous month's 4.47 percent and 4.49 percent, the data said.

The ratio of fixed-rate loans out of overall bank mortgages accounted for 59.8 percent in December, up 3.1 percentage points from 56.7 percent a month ago.

Meanwhile, banks' household loan rates declined to 4.82 percent annually in December, down 0.22 percentage point from 5.04 percent a month ago.

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