Daily: huge increase in number of Czechs taking out mortgages

There has been a huge increase in the number of Czechs taking out mortgages, thanks to low interest rates and concerted advertising campaigns, Lidove noviny reported on Friday. All of the country's major banks have recorded significant increases in the number of mortgages they have sold, with CSOB bank, for instance, recording a rise of 106 percent.

Meanwhile, foreign real estate funds invested over 600 million US dollars in property in the Czech Republic in the first half of 2005, a year-on-year increase of 75 percent, Hospodarske noviny reported.