Yes, you can usually get a mortgage (hypotéka) in Czechia as a foreigner. Whether a bank lends to you depends less on your passport than on your residence, your income and where it's paid. How much it may lend is capped by ČNB, the Czech central bank, and the caps are the same for everyone. Each bank sets its own rules for foreign applicants, and they're rarely published, which is why a good broker is worth having.
Will a Czech bank lend to a foreigner?
Usually, yes, but each bank decides, and its rules for foreign applicants aren't set out in one place. This is what banks typically look at. Treat it as a guide, not a rule, and check with a broker or the bank:
| Your situation | What banks typically ask |
|---|---|
| A citizen of the EU, EEA or Switzerland, living in Czechia | Much the same as a Czech applicant |
| From outside the EU, with permanent residence | Much the same as a Czech applicant |
| From outside the EU, with long-term residence | A permit with time left on it, and sometimes a larger deposit |
| Living abroad, with no Czech income | Hard. Ask a broker which banks lend at all |
Banks want income they can verify. A contract with a Czech employer, past its probation period (zkušební doba), is the simplest case. If you're self-employed (OSVČ), expect to show your tax returns for the last two years or more. Income paid abroad or in another currency is harder for a bank to weigh, so ask how each bank treats it before you apply.
Some banks ask applicants from outside the EU to sign a notarial deed agreeing to direct enforcement (notářský zápis se svolením k vykonatelnosti). It lets the bank enforce the debt without going to court if you stop paying. Ask about it early, because it adds a notary to the timeline.
How much will a bank lend?
ČNB sets the upper limits for loans secured by a home, and every lender in Czechia must keep to them:1
- Loan to value (LTV). At most 80 % of the value of the property the loan is secured on, or 90 % if you're under 36 and buying a home to live in.
- Debt to income (DTI) and debt service to income (DSTI). ČNB can cap these too, but it has switched both caps off for now. Banks still check that you can afford the payments, by their own rules.
For an investment mortgage ČNB has recommended stricter limits since 1 April 2026: a loan of at most 70 % of the value, and total debt of at most seven times your yearly net income. An investment mortgage is one for a flat bought to let, or for a third or further home.2
The value is the bank's, not the price. The bank sends a valuer (odhadce), and the LTV is worked out from their valuation (odhad). If it comes in below the price you agreed, the gap comes from your own money too. Your deposit also has to cover the costs of the purchase: the cadastre fee, the lawyer and the escrow.
Prices decide how much you need. This is the median asking price per m² of two-room flats in Prague, with the middle half of asking prices as a band:
What papers will the bank ask for?
Each bank has its own list, but expect most of these:
- Your passport, and your residence permit or registration if you're from outside the EU.
- Proof of income: a confirmation of income from your employer (potvrzení o příjmu), recent payslips and bank statements, or tax returns if you're self-employed.
- The flat's details: the reservation agreement or the draft purchase contract, and the extract from the land register (list vlastnictví).
- Insurance of the flat. Banks usually want the policy pledged to them (vinkulace), so a claim pays off the loan first.
Before you sign, the bank must give you a standard summary of the offer, the European Standardised Information Sheet (ESIS). It states the annual percentage rate of charge (RPSN), which counts the fees as well as the interest, so you can compare offers like for like.3 Ask whether the bank will give you the contract in English too. If it won't, have someone you trust read the Czech.
How does the fixed rate work?
Czech mortgages run for decades, but the rate is fixed only for a period, the fixation (fixace), usually a few years. When it ends, the bank offers a new rate for the next period. That new rate can be higher or lower than the one you have now.
The law gives you a fair chance to react:
- The bank must tell you the new rate at least three months before the fixation ends.4
- For three months after it tells you, you can repay the loan, in full or in part, or move it to another bank, without a fee.5
- Every year you can repay up to 25 % of the loan for free, in the month before the anniversary of the contract.
- After two years, you can repay for free if you sell the flat.
Outside those windows, the bank may charge only its own costs of the early repayment, and the law limits those. A short fixation is cheaper to leave. A long one protects you from rising rates for longer. A broker can show you both.
Can you deduct the interest from your tax?
Yes, if the flat is your home. The interest you pay on a mortgage or a building-savings loan for your own housing is deducted from your tax base. That's up to 150,000 Kč of interest a year for the whole household.6 If you let the flat, or part of it, you get the relief only in proportion to the part you live in. In the year you buy, it's enough that you own the home at the end of the year.
If you're not a Czech tax resident, you can claim it only if you're tax resident in the EU or the EEA and at least 90 % of your income comes from Czech sources.7 The relief lowers your tax base, not your tax, so what it saves you is your tax rate times the interest.
What about cooperative flats and building savings?
A cooperative flat (družstevní byt) isn't property you own in the land register, so it can't be pledged to a bank the way a flat in personal ownership is. Banks finance them in other ways, for example with a building-savings loan (úvěr ze stavebního spoření). The law allows one to pay for the transfer of a cooperative share.8
Building savings (stavební spoření) is a Czech savings scheme with a state contribution of 5 % of what you save, on up to 20,000 Kč a year.9 Its loans come after at least two years of saving, though a building society can give you a bridging loan before that. The state contribution goes to Czech citizens, to EU citizens with a Czech residence certificate and a Czech birth number (rodné číslo), and to anyone else with permanent residence and a birth number.
Work out the payments
Want to know how much a bank could lend you first? The mortgage calculator works it out from your income and savings under ČNB's limits, and shows the flats for sale within your budget.
The calculator shows the mortgage payment, and what it becomes after the fixation if the rate changes. It also shows what the flat costs to own. It's built for a flat you let, but its mortgage lines work for any flat. Start from the example and change it to the flat you're looking at.
Cashflow nach Steuern−4.935 Kč im Monat
Bruttomietrendite4,8 %
Was dabei herauskommt
Kostet dich 4.935 Kč im Monat bei einer Miete von 24.000 Kč; Break-even-Miete 29.347 Kč.
- Cashflow nach Steuern
- −4.935 Kčim Monat
- Vor Steuern: −4.935 Kč im Monat
- Bruttomietrendite
- 4,8 %
- Nettomietrendite
- 4,1 %
- Rendite auf das eingesetzte Kapital
- −4,9 %
- Break-even-Miete
- 29.347 Kč
- Schuldendienstdeckung
- 0,81×
- Monatliche Rate
- 25.592 Kč
- Benötigtes Startkapital
- 1.217.000 Kč
Einkommensteuer: 0 Kč im Jahr. Über 10 Jahre gerechnet kostet die Methode „Tatsächliche Ausgaben“ 279.000 Kč weniger Steuer als die andere.
Not sure whether to buy at all? The rent or buy calculator puts the same home side by side: bought with a mortgage, or rented while your deposit is invested. It counts the interest relief too.
Can I get a mortgage in Czechia without permanent residence?
Often, yes. Citizens of the EU, EEA and Switzerland living in Czechia are usually treated much like Czechs. From outside the EU, some banks lend on a long-term residence permit with time left on it, sometimes with a larger deposit. A broker knows which.
How much deposit do I need?
At least 20 % of the value as the bank's valuer sets it, or 10 % if you're under 36 and buying your own home. For a flat bought to let, ČNB recommends at least 30 %. The one-off costs of the purchase come on top.
Can I get a Czech mortgage if I earn abroad?
It's hard. Banks want income they can verify, ideally from a Czech employer or a Czech tax return. Ask a broker which banks lend on income from abroad, and on what terms.
What happens when the fixation ends?
The bank tells you the new rate at least three months before. For three months after that, you can repay the loan or move it to another bank without a fee.
Can a foreigner deduct mortgage interest from Czech tax?
Yes, if the flat is your home and you're a Czech tax resident. A non-resident can claim it only as a tax resident of the EU or the EEA with at least 90 % of their income from Czech sources.
Sources
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Czech National Bank, upper limits for the credit ratios LTV, DTI and DSTI, left unchanged on 4 June 2026. ↩
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Czech National Bank, press release of 27 November 2025, recommended limits for investment mortgages from 1 April 2026. ↩
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Consumer Credit Act (Act 257/2016 Coll.), §95(2) and Annex 4. ↩
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Consumer Credit Act, §102(3). ↩
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Consumer Credit Act, §117(3). ↩
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Income Tax Act (Act 586/1992 Coll.), §15(3) and (4). ↩
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Income Tax Act, §15(8). ↩
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Building Savings Act (Act 96/1993 Coll.), §5 and §6(1)(h). ↩
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Building Savings Act, §4(2) and §10(2). ↩
