South Korea's household debt growth sharply slowed last month on the government's efforts to curb speculative investment in the real estate market, government data showed Thursday.

Debts owed by households to financial institutions, including banks and nonmonetary institutions, grew by 1 trillion won (878 million U.S. dollars) in March from a year earlier, according to joint data by the Bank of Korea (BOK), the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

It was sharply down from an increase of 5 trillion won (4.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the same month of last year.

The slowing expansion of household debts came as the government unveiled a set of measures last year to control speculative investment in the property market.

After the measures were announcement, households refrained from purchasing new home with borrowed money.

The number of apartment transactions in the capital Seoul fell from 14,000 in February to 12,000 in March.

Household debts extended by banks advanced 2.9 trillion won (2.5 billion U.S. dollars) in March from a year earlier, but those from nonmonetary institutions reduced 1.9 trillion won (1.6 billion U.S. dollars) last month.