The volume of mortgages granted fell slightly compared to May, but the year-on-year decline is much more pronounced. The average rate for new loans has risen to five percent.

Rising rates are thus also impacting the number of home loans, with the average mortgage size falling but the average repayment increasing, the latest ČBA Hypomonitor showed.

Banks and building societies arranged housing loans totaling CZK 19.3 billion in June. This is an eight percent drop compared to May, with households drawing CZK 1.6 billion less.

The June Hypomonitor data thus shows that the mortgage market is weakening further, evident from the year-on-year dynamics, which deepened its decline from 59 percent in May to the current 65 percent.

Although 2021 was a record year in mortgage originations, and the year-on-year decline is thus also due to the high comparison, the volume of mortgages originated in June was also a quarter lower compared to 2020.

The volume of newly granted mortgages, excluding refinancing, amounted to CZK 15.7 billion in June, down by CZK 1.1 billion compared to May. After April, this is the lowest volume in two years. The importance of refinanced loans was CZK 3.6 billion in June.

The drop was also visible in newly granted mortgages, of which people took out 5,053. In the first quarter of this year, the average monthly number of mortgages granted exceeded 7,000; last year, it was 9,500.

The average mortgage rate has risen to 5%

The interest rate on new mortgage loans rose to 5.01 percent in June, up from 4.6 percent in May. The month-on-month rate rise was thus slightly more substantial in June than in previous months and has continued to do so for 16 months in a row, Hypomonitor showed. The average rate thus reached its highest level since mid-2010.

Mortgage interest rates are already in the six to seven percent range.

The average mortgage payment is increasing

The average mortgage amount has fallen slightly recently and reached CZK 3,103,184 in June. Stricter rules of the Czech National Bank and rising interest rates that significantly increase monthly repayments have forced some households to reduce the intended mortgage amount.

A one percentage point rise in mortgage rates means an increase in the monthly payment of CZK 1,500 to CZK 2,000 for the average mortgage size. Compared to the two percent interest rate expected on the market a year ago, a six percent mortgage rate means an increase in the monthly payment for an average mortgage of up to seven thousand crowns.

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