The Czech mortgage market is crashing and it’s not a problem that lower interest rates can fix. Last year, consumers were rushing to sign up for mortgages because of fears that rates were going to rise. That situation has been turned on its head in 2019, with loans slowing despite banks cutting their rates by half a percent since Janaury. The number of mortgages rose just 206 in September to 6,359, but Aktualne.cz chalks this up to the annual post-holidays bump in deals. The average interest rate for mortgages is now 2.47 percent. Banks have issued a total of CZK 128bn in mortgages over the first nine months of 2019, CZK 32bn less than the same period last year. Aktualne.cz says the drop in interest is due to high prices and stricter mortgage conditions.
