Household credit in the first quarter has declined in South Korea for the first time since records were kept as home sales slowed on the back of rising borrowing costs.

According to the Bank of Korea on Tuesday, outstanding household credit stood at nearly one-thousand-860 trillion won as of late March, dropping by some 600 billion won from last December when the amount hit the highest level on record.

Household credit refers to credit purchases and loans for households extended by financial institutions.

It marks the first fall since 2002, when the government began compiling related data.

The growing economy and the rise in real estate prices continued to drive up the country's household credit every quarter, but the volume eventually began to decline in the first quarter of this year after seeing accelerated pandemic-induced growth since 2020.

Household lending, or the amount after subtracting credit card debt from the credit total, stood at nearly one-thousand-753 trillion won, also down by one-point-five trillion won from the fourth quarter of last year.