In case of Korea, however, there has been no signs of household debt turning sour so far, although it has increased very rapidly since the early 2000's. The delinquency rates on banks' household loans stood at only 0.6% at year-end 2007. Future policy tasks In many countries, a large proportion of household debt is made up of housing finance loans.
To maintain household debt soundness, therefore, the absolutely crucial thing is to avoid a housing boom and bust cycle. To ensure this, policy initiatives are naturally required from the micro angle targeting the supply and demand of housing and the tax regime. An even more important task, however, is to carry out macro economic policies that keep the overall economy on a stable course.