![\"null](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/news-p.v1.20260106.3feb17fb95d84526b2c9231f68467e4e_P1.jpg\"\/ "\\"Korean")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Major commercial banks in Korea are raising mortgage rates one after another. The moves come as expectations grow for a Bank of Korea (BOK) rate hike in the second half of the year, driving bank bond yields sharply higher. Bank deposit rates have also climbed to the mid-3 percent range annually.<\/p>\n
According to the financial industry Wednesday, KB Kookmin Bank lowered the variable preferential rate on its non-face-to-face mortgage product “KB Star Apartment Mortgage Loan” by 0.2 percentage points the same day, based on the new-balance COFIX six-month benchmark. Reducing the preferential rate has the effect of raising the interest rate by the same margin.<\/p>\n
The product’s variable rate was adjusted upward to 3.82-4.32 percent from the previous 3.62-4.12 percent. The variable rate on “KB Star Apartment Mortgage Loan II” also rose to 3.72-5.12 percent from 3.52-4.92 percent. This adjustment applies to loans for home purchase purposes.<\/p>\n
NH NongHyup Bank also raised its five-year fixed-rate and six-month variable-rate mortgage rates by 0.2 percentage points each, effective Sunday. It raised rates on jeonse (a Korean lease system requiring a large lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent) loans and credit loans as well. The upper limit on the six-month variable rate rose by 0.32 percentage points and 0.12 percentage points, respectively.<\/p>\n
At Woori Bank, an effective rate increase emerged due to the end of a special-offer program. On Wednesday, the lowest six-month variable rate based on the new COFIX for its flagship mortgage product “Woori Apartment Loan” jumped 0.70 percentage points to 4.37 percent from the previous 3.67 percent. The increase came as the 0.7 percentage point preferential rate volume, which had been temporarily operated as part of inclusive finance, was fully exhausted.<\/p>\n
The upper limit on the five major banks’ fixed-rate (five-year) mortgage rates recently exceeded 7 percent annually. Compared with the start of the year, the upper limit has risen by more than 1 percentage point.<\/p>\n
By contrast, Shinhan Bank and Hana Bank did not implement separate mortgage rate increases this month. “Pressure for rate hikes is rising, so the possibility of adjusting loan rates depending on market conditions remains open,” a commercial bank official said.<\/p>\n
A surge in bank bond yields is cited as the backdrop for the rise in loan rates. The five-year “AAA”-rated bank bond yield, a key benchmark for banks’ fixed-rate mortgages, stood at around 3.499 percent at the end of last year but broke above 4 percent this year. After recording 4.051 percent at the end of March, it soared to 4.413 percent as of Friday. The result reflects a combination of instability in the Middle East, rising market rates, and the possibility of additional tightening by the Bank of Korea.<\/p>\n
Deposit rates are also on the rise. According to the Korea Federation of Banks, as of Wednesday, more than half\u201420 of 36 one-year fixed deposit products at 19 banks\u2014offered rates of up to 3 percent or higher, including preferential rates. Jeonbuk Bank’s “JB 123 Fixed Deposit” was the highest at up to 3.70 percent. All three internet banks are also offering rates in the 3 percent range.<\/p>\n
BNK Busan Bank also began selling its “BNK My Way Deposit” special offer, providing rates of up to 3.4 percent, on Wednesday. It is being sold with a total limit of 1 trillion won. The subscription period can be chosen from 12, 18, or 24 months. Amid the upward trend in market rates, competition for deposits in the banking sector is also intensifying. “When deposit rates rise, it has the effect of pushing loan rates even higher,” a commercial bank official said. “As overall market rates are rising, banks’ lending and deposit rates are expected to continue rising for the time being.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Major commercial banks in Korea are raising mortgage rates one after another. The moves come as expectations grow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[456],"tags":[26951,845,1833,846,26952,26953,5177,26949,26950,626],"class_list":["post-45533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bank-of-korea","tag-bank-bond-yields","tag-bank-of-korea","tag-bank-of-korea-rate-hike","tag-bok","tag-cofix","tag-deposit-rates","tag-kb-kookmin-bank","tag-korea-mortgage-rates","tag-nh-nonghyup-bank","tag-woori-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}