Interest in mortgages on the rise

Banks and building societies granted mortgages worth more than CZK 26 billion in October, of which almost CZK 22 billion were actually new loans, the Czech Banking Association reported. Compared to September, mortgage activity increased by nine percent. The average interest rate on newly granted mortgage loans fell slightly to 4.9 percent in October down by 0.8 percent year-on-year according to the Czech Banking Association. The Czech National Bank, has meanwhile cut its base rate, on which interest rates on financial products in banks are based, four times faster - by three percentage points to 4 percent.