Building savings (stavební spoření) are a Czech state-supported savings scheme with a right to a loan; since 2024 the state adds at most CZK 1,000 a year, 5 % of up to CZK 20,000 paid in (§ 10 of Act No. 96/1993 Coll.). If your mortgage costs 5 %, saving in building savings so that you can make an extra payment later rarely pays off.
With the savings bank (stavební spořitelna) paying 2 % interest, the account yields roughly 3.3 % a year including the contribution. Every koruna sent straight to the mortgage, by contrast, saves interest at the loan's full rate.
Building savings and a mortgage do fit together, just elsewhere: as a smaller loan without a charge on the property for a renovation or a cooperative flat, as savings for your children with their own right to the contribution, or as a reserve you can get at. Both routes are worked through below on a CZK 4,000,000 mortgage.
What building savings offer in 2026
Building savings are governed by Act No. 96/1993 Coll. These are the rules that decide whether they are worth it for you:
- The state contribution is 5 % of the amount saved in a calendar year, calculated on no more than CZK 20,000. That makes the maximum CZK 1,000 a year per participant, however many contracts they hold (§ 10). The cut from the earlier CZK 2,000 has applied since 2024 to new and existing contracts alike.
- You keep the contribution if you leave the money untouched for six years from signing the contract (§ 12). Before six years are up, only if you take a building savings loan and use the money for housing needs.
- Housing needs under § 6 include buying, building and renovating a flat or a house, buying a building plot, paying for the transfer of a cooperative share and repaying a loan used for any of these. A holiday cottage is not among them.
You become entitled to a regular building savings loan after 24 months of saving at the earliest (§ 5(4)), and only once you meet the savings bank's conditions, typically saving part of the target amount and reaching the required evaluation score. The interest on deposits and the loan rate are set by each savings bank's tariff, not by the law.
Save in building savings or pay down the mortgage?
Worked through on a CZK 4,000,000 mortgage (25-year term, 5.00 % throughout, payment of CZK 23,384; extra payments shorten the term and the monthly payment stays the same):
- Option A, building savings. You pay in CZK 20,000 a year for six years, and we assume the savings bank pays 2 % a year net. After six years you have CZK 134,686: CZK 120,000 of deposits, CZK 6,000 of state contribution and CZK 8,686 of interest. You send the lot to the bank as an extra payment. You save CZK 203,238 in interest and repay the mortgage 14 months sooner.
- Option B, extra payments. You send the same CZK 20,000 straight to the mortgage every year in the month before the contract anniversary, CZK 120,000 in all. You save CZK 222,186 in interest and also finish 14 months sooner.
Option B comes out CZK 18,948 ahead, even though you put CZK 14,686 less into it. After six years you owe CZK 3,300,924 under B and CZK 3,302,675 under A. Building savings would only match a 5 % mortgage at an interest rate on deposits of around 3.8 % a year.
Extra payments of this size cost you nothing. The law lets you repay up to 25 % of the original loan amount once a year free of charge, provided the money arrives in the month before the contract anniversary (§ 117 of the Consumer Credit Act). How to go about it is described in Making an extra mortgage payment.
The result flips in two cases. Either your mortgage is cheap, for instance with a rate fixed back when rates were around 2 %, or you need the money to stay within reach. What you send to the mortgage you never get back, whereas a building savings contract can be terminated and you lose only the contribution. How big a reserve to keep is discussed in When it pays to repay a mortgage early.
Is a building savings loan better than a mortgage?
For large secured amounts a mortgage is usually cheaper. A building savings loan wins where you need a smaller sum without a charge on the property, or where a flat cannot be pledged at all:
| Situation | How it helps | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Renovation costing hundreds of thousands | a loan from the savings bank up to its limit with no charge on the property, no valuation and no land registry entry | the rate tends to be higher than on a mortgage; compare the APRC |
| Cooperative flat | paying for the transfer of a cooperative share counts as a housing need, and the flat does not have to be pledged | unsecured limits are in the hundreds of thousands of koruna |
| Saving for children or a partner | each participant has their own right to a contribution of up to CZK 1,000 a year | a child's savings belong to the child, not to your mortgage |
| Topping up your own funds | an unsecured loan from the savings bank next to the mortgage | the ČNB recommends that banks do not get round the LTV limit with parallel loans; the bank counts the payment among your outgoings |
| Rate certainty | the rate on a regular loan is usually fixed until the loan is repaid | the amounts are smaller and the terms shorter |
Money from the savings bank straight away, before the target amount is allocated, comes as a bridging loan. When a building savings bridging loan beats a mortgage is covered in a separate article.
Combined offers and the small print
- A bank may make the mortgage conditional on opening a building savings account. The ban on tied products does not extend to building savings (§ 115(3) of the Consumer Credit Act). Work out what the contract costs you in fees and set that against the rate discount.
- The fee for opening the contract is usually calculated from the target amount. A high target amount “just in case” means a higher fee right at the start.
- Interest on a building savings loan for housing can be deducted from your tax base just like mortgage interest. The CZK 150,000 annual limit, however, covers all housing loans in the household together (§ 15 of the Income Tax Act).
- When assessing a mortgage, the bank treats the building savings loan payments like any other debt. If you take both at once, you have to be able to carry both payments.
If you already have building savings and the sixth year is approaching, let the contract run its course. Terminate it early without using the money for housing and you would have to return the contribution for the whole period. Once the six years are up, decide whether the savings go into the mortgage or stay as a reserve.
Sources
- Act No. 96/1993 Coll., on building savings and state support for building savings, § 5, § 6, § 10 (5 % of deposits, calculated on at most CZK 20,000), § 12 (six-year period)
- Ministry of Finance – changes from 1 Jan 2024: state support for building savings capped at CZK 1,000 a year for new and existing contracts
- ČNB – Recommendation on managing the risks of consumer housing loans, Bulletin 17/2025 (Art. IV: no circumventing the LTV limit with parallel loans)
- Act No. 257/2016 Coll., on consumer credit, § 115(3) (building savings as a condition of a loan), § 117 (early repayment)
- Act No. 586/1992 Coll., on income taxes, § 15 (interest deduction, CZK 150,000 limit)