We’re accused fairly often of being too pessimistic in our view of this crisis, so how about a bit of cautious optimism? In Slovakia and its former country mate Czechia, we’re hearing ever-so-careful hints that things may have turned the corner. Sales of flats, say Slovak developers have picked up considerably since September. To be fair, what these developers have in common are projects that are nearing completion, and there’s nothing a cautious consumer likes more than a project that looks likely to finish safely.
But in the Czech Republic, interest in mortgage has been edging higher for four months now. To be precise, the volume of mortgages (not the actual number of loans handed out). In October, the average new mortgage was worth CZK 1.62 million. This rose to CZK 1.66 million in November. The biggest interest, according to Hyposervis, is for loans fixed for 5 years (43% of loans). The average interest rate locked in is 5.55%. A one year fix goes for 5.85%.
