Home Prices Grow at Faster Pace in July

Housing prices in South Korea rose at a faster pace in July than a month earlier due to a seasonal factor, data from the country's top lender showed Thursday.

South Korea's housing prices gained 0.3 percent last month, accelerating from a 0.1-percent advance in June, according to the data from Kookmin Bank. Home prices rose 9.4 percent year-on-year in July, compared with a 9.3-percent on-year rise the previous month, it added.

South Korea's housing price growth has slowed in part because of the government's stricter rules on home-backed loans.

Since late last year, the government has taken a set of measures to curb soaring housing prices, focusing on building more apartments and making it more difficult to take out home-backed loans from banks.

(Yonhap)