So much for the end of the Czech mortgage boom. Analysts convinced themselves that the introduction of new rules in October by the Czech National Bank to cool off the real estate lending market would reduce the size of the market. Instead, the total volume of mortgages grew by CZK 15bn to a record level: CZK 232bn. New mortgages make up CZK 187bn, up from CZK 174bn in 2017, while the total of volume of refinanced mortgages fell CZK 4bn to CZK35bn. The new rules for mortgage lending meant that the size of the loan couldn’t exceed nine times the borrower’s annual salary. Monthly payments, meanwhile, can’t exceed 45 percent of the borrower’s salary.
