Pawnshop loans jump amid high gold prices, economic uncertainty

Amount hit $884m in June, up 29% from a year ago; number of pledges also up by 8%

- Theresa Tan

The amount of loans given out by pawnshops shot up by close to 30 per cent in the past year, fuelled by surging gold prices and growing economic uncertainty.

In June 2025, $884 million in loans was given out by pawnshops here, a 29 per cent increase from the $686.4 million in June 2024.

The $884 million is almost double the $467 million in loans disbursed during the Covid-19 pandemic in June 2020, according to latest figures found on the Singapore Department of Statistics website.

Meanwhile, the number of pledges received rose by 8 per cent from 316,916 in June 2024 to 341,490 in June 2025.

In June 2020, there were 323,549 pledges, which are valuable items that borrowers leave with the pawnshop as collateral to secure a short-term loan.

Mr Lim Chun Seng, group general manager of MoneyMax Financial Services, said the rising price of gold is one key factor driving the increase in pawnshop loans.

This is because gold is the primary type of collateral used to secure a loan in the pawnbroking industry.

He said the price of spot gold rose from over US$2,300 per ounce of gold on June 30, 2024, to over US$3,200 on June 30, 2025.

Gold rose to a high of over US$3,500 per ounce on Sept 2 as it is seen as a safer asset by investors during economic uncertainty.