S. Korea's leasing market tops 20 tln won: report

South Korea's leasing market is estimated to be sized at 20 trillion won (US$17.8 billion) in 2012, an industry report showed Friday, due mainly to an increase in the number of one-member households.

The size of the local leasing market managed by financial firms came to 7.3 trillion won at end-2012, posting a four-fold growth from 1.7 trillion won tallied in 2002, according to the report by the Korea Consumer Agency (KCA).

Other leasing contracts clinched directly between consumers and lenders are also estimated to be sized at 10 trillion won last year, growing five-fold from 2 trillion won tallied in 2006, the report also showed.

The KCA attributed the sharp growth to the prolonged economic slump and an increase in the number of one-member households in South Korea.

According to a separate report by Statistics Korea, the number of one-member households stood at 4.14 million as of 2010, up 86.2 percent or 1.92 million from the total tallied 10 years ago.

One-member households accounted for 23.9 percent of the total, up 8.4 percentage points from a decade ago, the report added. Households composed of men came to 1.92 million, while those consisting of women stood at 2.22 million.

Vehicle leases accounted for 57 percent of South Korea's total rental contracts in 2012, up 30 percentage points from 2002, according to separate data by the Credit Finance Association.

Other goods for rent included vessels, aircrafts, office equipments, healthcare instruments and a variety of consumer goods. (Yonhap)