South Korea's import prices surged 24.8% year over year in May, according to preliminary data released by the Bank of Korea on Tuesday.
The pace of growth accelerated from the revised 20.5% increase recorded in the previous month.
The movement in the index was driven primarily by a faster jump in import prices of raw materials, immediate goods, capital goods and consumer goods.
On a month-over-month basis, import prices edged down 0.3%, softer than the 2.1% drop the previous month.
Capital city housing prices in Australia are forecast to fall 2.1% this year and 3.3% in 2027, ANZ Research said in a report on Monday.The bank had previously forecast 2.8% growth in 2026 and 2.1% in 2027. It attributed the reduction in forecasts to a combination of global uncertainty, three consecutive cash rate hikes, and recent housing policy changes which have led to a sharper than expected slowdown in the housing market.Housing prices in Sydney and Melbourne are expected to fall around 8% in 2026, with prices at a nine-month low in Sydney and a 12-month low in Melbourne. A price correction in Adelaide in South Australia is seen to lead to prices falling 6.4% in 2027.Prices are expected to partly recover in 2028, rising 3.8%, supported by 50 basis points of forecast rate cuts from the Reserve Bank of Australia in late 2027.Meanwhile, investor housing credit growth is expected to decline from a likely peak of more than 10% year over year in the June quarter to negative 0.8% in the first quarter of 2028, ANZ said. Total housing credit growth is expected to ease sharply to a low of 2.9% year over year in early 2028, from 7.1% in the March quarter.Over the medium term, a structural shift is expected in the composition of housing credit, with owner-occupier credit becoming a stronger source of growth.Total private sector credit growth should moderate to 4.2% by the March 2028 quarter from 7.8% in the March quarter before moving higher over the remainder of 2028, per the report.Business credit growth is forecast to slow to 6.6% year over year by the end of 2027 before recovering in 2028. Personal credit growth is seen easing to a low of 1.4% year over year in early 2028, the report said.
The preliminary net income of securities and futures trading companies in South Korea jumped 77.1% to 4.327 trillion won in the January-March quarter from 2.443 trillion won in the same period last year, the Financial Supervisory Service said in a Sunday release.Return on equity added 1.6 percentage points to 4.3% for the first quarter from 2.7% a year earlier, according to the release.The securities companies earned a total of 6.693 trillion won in commission income in Q1, up 98.9% from 3.365 trillion won a year earlier, it said.
South Korea's household loans rose by 9.3 trillion won in May, sharply higher than the 3.5 trillion won increase in April, according to a June 11 release from the Financial Services Commission.Home-backed mortgage loans grew by 4 trillion won during the month, easing from a 5.5 trillion won gain in April.At banks, mortgage lending accelerated to 3.2 trillion won from 2.7 trillion won, while growth in non-bank mortgage lending slowed sharply to 800 billion won from 2.8 trillion won.Other loans increased by 5.3 trillion won, rebounding from a 2 trillion won decline in April, driven by credit loans, which swung to a 3.4 trillion won gain from a 900 billion won drop.