Czechia: More than half of people would finance house renovation from savings

More than half of the people would use their own savings to reconstruct their house and make it more energy-efficient, while a quarter would apply for a subsidy. A third of people would choose financing in the form of a loan, either a mortgage or from a building society. This is according to a survey prepared by the Ipsos agency for Stavební spořitelna České spořitelna (SSČS). Since this year, building societies can provide advice and cooperation in securing subsidies for improving the energy efficiency of housing.

Compared to the end of 2022, the proportion of people who would use their own savings to finance a home renovation has fallen from 77 to 54 per cent. "I think it's a good sign that this figure is falling. The Czechs seem to realise that going all out on money and savings is not the right thing to do," said Milan Pospíšil of the SSČS.
According to a survey of 1,500 homeowners conducted in January, 17 percent of homeowners would take out a mortgage for renovation. A loan from a building savings account, which does not require mortgaging the property, would be taken out by 15 per cent of people. 24 percent of people would like to use state subsidies, which, according to Pospíšil, is due to less awareness of subsidy possibilities, the complexity of the subsidy procedure or fear of failure of the application.

According to the State Environmental Fund's Repair Grandma's House programme, subsidies can cover up to half the cost of renovations to reduce the energy intensity of housing. The other half can be covered by soft loans, which, under an agreement with the environment and finance ministries, have been provided by building societies since this year.

"Thanks to the unique cooperation between the banking sector and the state, even households that cannot cover the costs from their own financial resources can renovate their houses. We believe that this extraordinary financial instrument, partly financed from the modernisation fund, will help to further increase the number of households that will renovate their house thoroughly and thus significantly reduce energy consumption and housing costs," said Petr Valdman, Director of the State Environmental Fund. According to him, subsidies can be used for house insulation, photovoltaics, heat source replacement, water management systems or charging stations for electric vehicles.

Source: SSČS and CTK