Low savings rates hitting Czech mortgage volumes

Czech banks were expecting to hand out CZK 200bn in mortgage loans, but it's now clear that the market has slowed far too much to make this feasible. As of September, consumers were already CZK 30bn behind the pace of 2018 and they're showing few signs of turning things around. Tougher rules on who qualifies for a mortgage and runaway prices for real estate have hit demand hard, sparking new interest in rental apartments. But low levels of savings are also likely to hurt the end of year numbers. "Savings are crucial," say Jiří Feix, head of Hypoteční banka, a mortgage specialist bank. "Half of all people under 36 have put away less than CZK 100,000. It's increasingly important to start savings more and as soon as possible, otherwise people will have a hard time buying their own home." He said to buy a flat in Prague, you need between CZK 600,000 and CZK 1.5m in the bank.