Building societies provided loans worth 68.3 billion crowns in 2020, which is a year-on-year increase of 35 percent. On the contrary, interest in new building savings contracts fell by five percent last year to about 520,000. This follows from the data of all five domestic savings banks made available to ČTK.
The Association of Czech Building Societies pointed out that the volume of loans is comparable to the record year of 2018, which is the second best result in the last ten years. “The average loan amount flew well above the one million crowns mark,” said Jiří Šedivý, the association’s secretary. This year, it expects a similar development as last year, both in terms of new contracts and in the case of loans.
The association evaluates the year-on-year decrease in the number of newly concluded contracts by five percent as an excellent result in the context of last year’s events. “People naturally respond to the growing level of uncertainty by more often choosing the best ways to provide for the future. They traditionally save and also invest in better housing. Building savings is an ideal helper in both cases and people use it properly,” said Šedivý.
Stavební spořitelny provide loans from their own resources, ie from the deposits of clients who save. On the contrary, mortgage banks usually borrow on a loan, which they then provide to the client. Interest rates depend on the length of the fixation period and the price of money on the interbank market.
Last year, according to comparable data, building societies provided loans worth 50.6 billion crowns, which was a year-on-year decrease of 30 percent. However, interest in new building savings contracts fell by 12 percent to about 546,000 the year before.
“At the beginning of last year, we expected 2020 to be a successful year for building societies. Subsequent pandemic developments significantly dampened our expectations and the development for the rest of the year was a very positive surprise for us,” commented Jochen Maier, ČMSS Deputy Chairman of the Board.
