According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun, the COFIX based on new deposits in September rose 0.25 percentage point to 3.43%, so NongHyup Bank's six-month floating mortgage rate ceiling rises to 6.48% from Oct. 16.
The Kyunghyang Shinmun reported on Oct. 15 that the September COFIX (cost of funds index) based on new transactions, announced by the Korea Federation of Banks, rose 0.25 percentage point from a month earlier to 3.43%. COFIX is the weighted-average rate of funds raised by eight domestic banks and is the benchmark for floating-rate mortgages.
광고 문의 · 300×250The figure is the highest in two years and three months, since June 2024 (3.52%), and the increase is the largest since November 2022 (0.36 percentage point). The new-transactions COFIX rose for four straight months from April to July, was flat at 3.18% in August, and rose again in September.
Rates by bank
According to the paper, NH NongHyup Bank's six-month floating mortgage rate moves from 4.49-6.29% to 4.68-6.48% from Oct. 16. KB Kookmin Bank's ceiling rises to 6.04% and Woori Bank's to 6.20%. Shinhan Bank is at 4.36-5.77% now and is expected to apply the higher COFIX soon.
Hana Bank uses the six-month bank-debenture rate rather than COFIX and is currently at 4.624-5.824%. Only NongHyup now has a floating ceiling in the 6% range, but once the adjustments take effect three of the five major banks will, the paper said.
Other COFIX measures
In the same release, the balance-based COFIX rose 0.10 percentage point to 3.15% and the new-balance-based COFIX rose 0.08 point to 2.79%. A higher COFIX raises banks' funding costs, which tends to feed into loan rates.
Floating-rate mortgage borrowers may face higher interest from their next rate reset. Actual rates depend on each bank's spread, preferential terms and reset cycle, so borrowers should check individually.