SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Asset-based securities (ABS) issuance in South Korea posted a double-digit decline in the third quarter as the government unveiled a set of measures to control mortgage loan, financial watchdog data showed Monday.
The ABS sales totaled 10.9 trillion won (9.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the July-September quarter, down 13.5 percent from the same quarter of last year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
The double-digit fall was attributed to the reduction of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) issuance, which tumbled 21.1 percent over the year to 6 trillion won (5.3 billion U.S. dollars) in the September quarter.
The MBS is issued by the state-run Korea Housing Finance Corp. (KHFC) to securitize home-backed loans owed by households to lenders.
The fall in the MBS issuance came as the government unveiled measures to control household debts, which kept a record-breaking trend amid the near-record-low policy rate.
Households had rushed to purchase new home with borrowed money, but the rising pace slowed recently thanks to the government measures.
ABS issuance by financial institutions, including banks and brokerages, plunged 19.2 percent in the quarter but the ABS sales by industrial companies expanded 16.7 percent.
