While mortgages are set to increase after the Czech National Bank (ČNB) boosted interest rates to 0.25 percent last week, Prague’s red hot residential boom is not expected to cool any time soon, writes the economic daily Hospodářské noviny, citing real estate consultancies and mortgage agents. The daily suggests that mortgage volumes could even rocket in the short-term as people anticipate further rate increases. Robert Hanzl, the general director of Next reality, told the paper that mortgage rates would have to jump a few percentage points in order to influence the market. Mortgage rates averaged slightly above 2 percent in June, according to Hypoindex, up from 1.77 percent at the end of 2016.
