Growth of South Korean households' financial assets reached an all-time low this year amid prolonged low interest rates.
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​According to data from Statistics Korea and the Bank of Korea on Sunday, the average financial assets of local households stood at 97-point-eight million won as of the end of March, up a mere one-point-five percent from a year earlier.
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​It marked the lowest on-year gain since 2012, when those agencies began compiling related data.
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​The growth figures were eight-point-four percent in 2013, two-point-one percent in 2014 and three-point-one percent in 2015. It climbed to three-point-eight percent last year.
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​Household financial assets are comprised of bank deposits, installment savings, investments in stocks and bonds, and security deposits.
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​The slow growth of household financial assets is attributed to the fact that many people reduced savings and used their financial assets to buy homes on mortgage loans amid prolonged low interest rates.