Mortgage rates in the Czech Republic in October 2026, and where they are heading

Mortgage rates in the Czech Republic averaged 5.00 % on new loans in August 2026, according to ČBA Hypomonitor, the Czech Banking Association's monthly statistics: the fifth rise in a row. Advertised rates are higher. The Swiss Life Hypoindex, which tracks bank price lists, stood at 5.79 % in October 2026, and in that month a one-year fixation was the cheapest option.

Realised rates measured by the ČBA have climbed from the March low of 4.43 % and are at their highest since mid-2024. The Hypoindex of advertised rates has risen for seven months in a row, from 4.89 % in March.

Two things pushed them up. The ČNB (Czech National Bank) raised its two-week repo rate to 3.75 % on 19 June 2026, and interest rate swaps, which banks use to price their fixed-rate periods (fixace), became more expensive. The Bank Board meets next on 5 November 2026; the market allows for a hike to 4.00 %, but it is far from certain. In payment terms, every extra percentage point on a CZK 4,000,000 mortgage over 25 years costs roughly CZK 2,300–2,400 a month and around CZK 700,000 over the term.

What is the average mortgage rate in the Czech Republic in 2026?

The two sources measure different things. ČBA Hypomonitor records rates on contracts banks actually signed in a given month, individual discounts included. Hypoindex follows price-list offers, so it usually runs 1–2 months ahead: the 5.79 % it shows for October has not yet fed through into realised rates for September and October.

Between March and August realised rates rose by 0.57 pp, and advertised rates added another 0.37 pp from August to October. Demand has not dropped. In August 2026 banks granted 5,825 new mortgages worth CZK 26.8 bn (excluding refinancing), the average loan reached a record CZK 4.59 million, and year-to-date volume passed CZK 273 bn.

What changed at individual banks during October is covered in our monthly note on mortgages in October 2026.

How have Czech mortgage rates moved since 2020?

Since 2020, rates on new Czech mortgages have gone through a full cycle. They were cheapest in January 2021 (1.95 %), climbed to 5.98 % by December 2022, the highest in the whole period, and then fell for three years to the March 2026 low of 4.43 %. Since April 2026 they have been rising again. The table shows each year's December figure from ČBA Hypomonitor, with the cheapest and the dearest month of the year.

Two things follow from the series. Anyone who fixed in 2020 or 2021 is now refixing from around 2 % to 5 % or more, which on CZK 4 million over 25 years adds more than CZK 6,000 a month. And August's 5.00 % is still below the peak: from August 2022 to the end of 2023, new mortgages were signed at more than 5.6 %.

The ČBA rates month by month since October 2024, the yearly figures since 2020 and the ČNB repo rate history since 2021, all downloadable as a CSV file, are on our Czech mortgage market data page.

Why rates have been rising since March

A fixed mortgage rate is not set directly from the repo rate. It comes from the price at which the bank can lock in money for the length of the fixed period, and that price is the interest rate swap (IRS). The five-year koruna swap stood at roughly 4.5–4.7 % in September 2026. Add the bank's margin, which covers risk and capital, and you arrive at the 5.4–5.8 % on banks' price lists.

Swaps, and mortgages with them, have become dearer since spring for these reasons:

1. The ČNB raised the repo rate from 3.50 to 3.75 % on 19 June 2026, then held it on 6 August and 17 September without ruling out another step. Three-month PRIBOR is holding at around 3.9 %.
2. Swaps price in where the market expects rates to be 2–5 years ahead, not just today's repo rate. If a 4.00 % repo rate is expected, fixed rates move before the ČNB decides anything.
3. Demand and property prices are at records. Realised prices of older flats rose 14 % year on year in Q2 2026 (Prague +11 %). With clients queuing up, banks have no reason to compete on price, and Česká spořitelna lifted most of its fixed rates by 0.3 pp on 11 September 2026.

Inflation, meanwhile, is low: 1.9 % in August 2026 (July 1.7 %, June 1.5 %), practically on the ČNB's 2 % target. Mortgage rates follow the monetary policy outlook and the price of longer-term money, not this month's inflation figure.

Which fixed-rate period is cheapest in October 2026?

Banks have raised long fixed periods the most, so a one-year fixation is now the cheapest option and five years or more the dearest. That follows from the yield curve: PRIBOR sits at around 3.9 %, the five-year swap at 4.5–4.7 %.

Swiss Life Hypoindex for October 2026 bears this out. Above LTV 80 % each fixed-rate period costs 0.26–0.31 pp more:

Headlines about mortgages “above 6 %” therefore refer to ten-year fixations and to five-year fixations above LTV 80 %, not to the market average of 5.79 %.

Individual offers in October 2026 mostly fall between 4.7 and 5.8 %, higher for a ten-year fixation. Where you land depends on LTV (up to 80 % is cheaper), the length of the fixed period, whether you take the bank's insurance and whether you move your current account. The “from” rate in a price list is meant for the ideal client. Miss one condition and your offer goes up, which is why the advertised “from 4.59 %” and the Hypoindex average of 5.79 % sit so far apart.

A short fixation is cheaper today, but in a year you will be negotiating the rate again and nobody knows where it will be. A long one costs more, and what you pay for is a payment you can plan around. Our article Fixed vs. variable rate goes through the choice.

Will the ČNB raise rates on 5 November 2026?

The repo rate has been 3.75 % since 19 June 2026 (discount rate 2.75 %, Lombard rate 4.75 %), and the Bank Board left it alone on 6 August and 17 September. Two meetings remain before the end of 2026, on 5 November and 17 December. A hike to 4.00 % is possible rather than settled: inflation of 1.9 % argues against it, while property prices and the lending boom argue for it.

For mortgages that leaves three scenarios:

• A hike to 4.00 %. Markets partly expect it, so 3–5 year fixed rates should not jump; one-year fixations and PRIBOR-linked variable rates would rise most.
• No change at 3.75 %, with a signal that hikes are over. Swaps could ease slightly and advertised rates would level off around today's figures, while realised rates keep catching up for another 1–2 months.
• No change, and the market starts pricing in cuts for 2027. Long fixed periods would get cheaper first, the reverse of how they rose over the summer.

Even in the best case, rates will not be back at the roughly 4.4 % of March 2026 within weeks. If you need a mortgage now, waiting for a “better month” rarely pays. Property prices rising a few percent a year cost more than half a percentage point on the rate, and the rate can be renegotiated at the next fixation anyway.

What one percentage point does to a CZK 4,000,000 loan

The gap between March's 4.43 % and October offers of around 5.8 % is more than cosmetic. Here is the annuity payment on a CZK 4,000,000 mortgage over 25 years:

If you need a lower payment, stretching the term to 30 years helps more than knocking half a percentage point off the rate. CZK 4,000,000 at 5.00 % over 30 years comes to CZK 21,473 (CZK 23,468 at 5.80 %), although you pay more interest in total. Run your own mix of amount, rate and term through the payment calculation.

If your fixed period ends soon

Today's rates hurt most if your fixed rate dates from 2021–2022. On CZK 4,000,000 at 1.99 % the payment was CZK 16,935; at 5.00 % it is CZK 23,384, which is CZK 6,449 a month more. Act No. 257/2016 Coll. (the Consumer Credit Act) gives you three levers, and you should use all of them:

1. The bank must tell you the new rate at least 3 months before the fixed period ends, and that is your window to shop around. Do not take your current bank's offer as final. The refixation rate is often higher than what the same bank gives a new client, and it usually comes down once you show a competing offer.
2. At the end of the fixed period you can repay or refinance free of charge, as you can at any point within 3 months after the bank tells you the new rate. There is no penalty and no early repayment fee.
3. Compare the cost over the whole fixed period, not just the rate. A 0.3 pp difference on CZK 3,500,000 is about CZK 600 a month, or CZK 36,000 over a five-year fixation. Subtract the cost of switching: a valuation (odhad) at CZK 3,000–6,000 and CZK 2,000 to register the lien. The refinancing calculator does the arithmetic.

For a timeline that starts six months before the fixed period ends, see End of a mortgage fixed-rate period.