A Generali Investments survey shows more than 60% of Czech non-owners see homeownership as out of reach, while illustrative mortgage payments have nearly doubled in five years.
According to Expats.cz, a survey by Generali Investments finds that more than six in ten Czechs without their own property believe homeownership is beyond their reach, and another quarter have postponed buying because of rising prices. The survey covered more than 1,000 respondents in Czechia and another 3,000 across Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. Nearly nine in ten Czech respondents expect housing affordability to worsen, compared with six in ten seven years ago. Three-quarters believe property prices will keep rising at the current pace, while only 9% expect them to fall; these are respondents' expectations, not a market forecast. Sixteen percent said they have nothing left at the end of the month to put toward their own housing, up from roughly one in nine last year. Among respondents under 35, one in four lives with parents, and the share living with parents has doubled over two years. Only 27% consider a mortgage more advantageous than renting, the lowest share among the four countries surveyed. Generali's illustrative calculations show how costs have changed. Five years ago an average mortgage of about CZK 3.2 million meant a modeled monthly payment of CZK 12,900 over 30 years; today an average loan of CZK 4.6 million produces a modeled payment of roughly CZK 25,500. That is a 97% rise, against average wage growth of 33% over the same period. Actual payments depend on the loan amount, interest rate and repayment term. Existing borrowers also have little room to manoeuvre: more than half said they could not absorb an increase of more than CZK 2,000 a month when their fixed-rate period ends, and about one in six could afford no increase at all. Even so, just 2% of mortgage holders would consider selling and renting if interest rates rose further.