How to finance a flat by the sea or in Slovakia with a mortgage

A Czech bank will not lend against a flat in Spain, Croatia or Slovakia, because it can register its lien (zástavní právo) only in the Czech land registry (katastr nemovitostí). That leaves two realistic routes. One is a loan secured by property you already own in Czechia, typically an American mortgage (americká hypotéka, a non-purpose loan secured by real estate). The other is a mortgage from a bank in the country where you are buying, usually in euros.

The first is easier to arrange and carries no currency risk on the debt, but it costs more and puts a charge on your Czech home. A local loan tends to be cheaper. Expect, though, a local tax number, a local account, a notary, a lower LTV for non-residents, and a euro instalment paid out of a koruna income. On a EUR 140,000 loan, a CZK 1.50 move in the exchange rate shifts your annual payments by roughly CZK 13,000.

Will a Czech bank lend on property abroad?

Not with the foreign property as security. A mortgage is a loan secured by a lien on property. A Czech bank needs that collateral valued by its own valuer, entered in the land registry (registration costs CZK 2,000, and the registry allows it no earlier than 20 days after sending the owner notice of the pending-change flag, the plomba) and enforceable under Czech law if you stop paying. None of that works abroad, where another country's registry, law and courts apply. So banks in Czechia do not accept foreign property, and a foreign flat cannot serve as security even for a purpose mortgage.

The same applies in reverse. A local bank in Spain or Austria will take the property you are buying through it as collateral, but it has no interest in your flat in Prague. The loan always rests on property in the lending bank's country.

The financing routes compared

The American mortgage has its own article, American mortgage: truths and myths. For this purpose, note that the 80 % LTV limit applies to all loans secured by residential property, while the under-36 benefit (LTV 90 %) applies only when you are buying your own home. On a non-purpose loan, banks usually lend less than the limit allows.

How do you get a mortgage in Slovakia, Spain, Croatia or Austria?

• Slovakia: no language barrier, the euro, and regulation similar to Czechia. Conditions for non-residents vary by bank. Slovak banks treat income from Czechia much as Czech banks treat foreign income: they want documents and are sometimes less willing to accept it.
• Spain: you will need a foreigner's tax identification number (NIE) and a Spanish bank account. Banks lend to non-residents at a much lower LTV than to locals. The purchase contract is signed before a notary; transfer tax varies by region, and on new builds VAT is paid instead.
• Croatia: you need a personal identification number (OIB) and usually a local account. Local banks do lend in euros to non-residents, but assess them more strictly. For older flats on the coast, check the land registry entry and whether the building has been legalised.
• Austria: EU citizens buy on the same terms as Austrians, but some federal states restrict holiday “second” homes in tourist areas. Buyers pay real estate transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer) of 3.5 % and a land register fee of 1.1 % of the purchase price for registering ownership, plus 1.2 % of the secured amount for registering the mortgage. Czechia, by contrast, abolished its property acquisition tax in 2020, and registering a deed in the katastr costs only an administrative fee of CZK 2,000.

Get the rate and LTV confirmed in a written offer. Euro-area rates follow the ECB, not the ČNB, so they can move differently from Czech mortgage rates (the Czech average for August 2026 was 5.00 %).

A EUR 200,000 apartment in Croatia

Currency risk shrinks if you let the property and collect the rent in euros, because income and payment are then in the same currency. If the flat is only for your own use, you are paying euros out of koruna and should keep a reserve for a bad exchange rate.

Taxes and costs in two countries

When buying, you pay according to the law of the country where the property is: transfer tax or VAT on a new build, the notary, land registry registration, translations and often a local lawyer as well. Slovakia has no property transfer tax; Spain, Croatia and Austria do. While you own the place, there is local property tax, building management fees and, if you let it, a local accountant.

As a Czech tax resident you declare your worldwide income, including rent from a flat abroad. Double taxation treaties stop you paying twice, and each treaty sets the method (exemption or tax credit). The interest deduction under § 15 of the Income Taxes Act (up to CZK 150,000 a year) applies only to your own home, so you cannot claim it on a holiday apartment or a flat you let.

An investment flat abroad and your borrowing at home

If you are buying to let, expect a Czech bank to treat it as an investment. For investment mortgages (a third or further property, or a flat bought to let) the ČNB has recommended LTV 70 % and DTI 7 since 1 April 2026. The recommendation is not binding, but banks build it into their conditions.

A foreign loan also eats into what you can borrow at home later. It may not show up in the Czech credit registers, but you must declare it in your application, and the bank will count its payment towards its internal DSTI threshold (usually 45 % of net income). The CZK 18,474 payment from the example above “takes away” roughly CZK 3.4 million from a future Czech mortgage at 5.00 % over 30 years.

If it is the other way round and you earn in euros but buy in Czechia, the calculation is in our article on a mortgage with foreign income.

Before you commit:

• Have a written loan offer before you sign the reservation agreement.
• Sort out the tax number, the account and the notary in the country of purchase.
• Calculate the payment at an exchange rate CZK 1.50–2.00 worse than today's.
• Find out whether and how you can repay the loan early, because the rules differ from Czech ones.
• Have a tax adviser confirm how the rent is taxed in both countries.