Slovak Central Bank Eases Mortgage Rules for First-Time Buyers

Slovakia's central bank, Národná banka Slovenska, will change mortgage lending rules from January 2027, allowing buyers under 35 to finance up to 90 percent of a first property's value while tightening terms for investment purchases, the bank's Banking Board said.¹²³

New borrowing limits

Under the revised rules, people under 35 buying or building their first home will be able to obtain financing covering up to 90 percent of the property's value. Most other applicants will keep the existing limit of 80 percent for a first property, while buyers acquiring a third or further property will face a stricter cap of 70 percent loan-to-value.³¹²

NBS said the changes are meant to favour first-home purchases over investment buying and to reflect current market conditions, in which one in five mortgages currently goes to clients who already own at least two properties.³¹⁵⁶

Phased introduction

According to the Banking Board, the new framework will be introduced gradually so that banks have time to adjust their internal processes. Rules easing access for young first-time buyers are set to begin on 1 January 2027, while the stricter 70 percent limit for third and subsequent properties follows from 1 July 2027.³¹²

A transition exception will initially let banks offer 90 percent financing to a portion of non-young clients before this exception is gradually reduced during 2027 and again in 2028, according to the Banking Board's timeline. According to a single outlet, the allowance would drop from 20 percent to 10 percent of freshly issued loans during the latter half of 2027, though no other source confirmed that figure.⁴²

SME reported that the Banking Board formally approved the package, with the young-buyer measures taking effect on 1 January 2027 and the tighter investment-property limit from 1 July 2027, according to that outlet alone.⁴

Rationale

Vladimír Dvořáček, a member of the NBS Banking Board, said the aim is to strike a better balance in the housing market by easing conditions for people seeking their first home while requiring more own resources from those purchasing additional properties for investment purposes.³⁵⁶²

Refresher.sk reported that commercial banks will retain some discretion to grant up to 90 percent financing in exceptional cases to selected clients outside the standard young-buyer category, according to that outlet.⁷