The latest data showed that while the increase in facility loans by property developers reached a high of 11.3 trillion won in the January-June period, corresponding numbers for the manufacturing sector grew just 2.3 trillion won.

"Loans going to the manufacturing sector have been in minus territory for six straight months since March of this year according to the country's industrial output numbers released by Statistics Korea," a BOK source said. This is the longest contraction since the 10 months of negative growth reported from September 1997, when the country was hit hard by the Asian financial crisis.

Facility investment by manufacturers fell 5.7 percent in the second quarter, the worst showing since the first three months of 2016, and comes in part as big companies completed updating their production lines in 2017.

Other outsiders claimed that while the real estate market generated profit in recent years, many local businesses were concerned about future prospects and have taken a wait-and-see stance.

"There is a pressing need to improve the business environment to get manufacturers to invest more in the future," a corporate insider said. (Yonhap)