Mortgages in Slovakia: what they are, how they work and how to get one

A mortgage is a long-term housing loan for which you put up a property as security. The bank registers a charge (záložné právo) in the cadastre. If you didn’t repay the loan as agreed, it could recover the debt from the sale of the charged property. You remain the owner of the property, though.

How much a bank will lend you depends on two things: the value of the property (the LTV limit) and your income and debts (the DSTI and DTI limits). These limits are set by the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) and apply to every bank. Each bank adds its own conditions on top, such as which income it accepts or the age by which you must repay the loan.

Mortgages and other ways to finance a home

Slovak bank offers use hypotéka, hypotekárny úver and úver na bývanie almost interchangeably. Act No. 90/2016 refers to housing loans. What matters more to you is whether the loan is secured by property and whether you have to prove what it’s for.

Type of financing	Security	What it’s for
Purpose-bound mortgage	Charge over property	Buying, building, renovating or refinancing a home. You prove the purpose.
American (non-purpose) mortgage	Charge over property	Anything; you don’t prove the purpose. Banks set stricter limits – mBank, for example, states a maximum LTV of 75% and a maximum term of 25 years.
State Housing Development Fund (ŠFRB) loan	Under ŠFRB’s conditions	In 2026, up to 100% of the acquisition cost, at most €180,000, over 40 years at 1% a year. Only for groups set by law and only in the annual application round.
Consumer (non-purpose) loan	No charge over property	Smaller amounts over a shorter period. Tatra banka, for example, listed €500 to €40,000 over 12 to 96 months on 19 October 2026.

Applications for an ŠFRB loan to buy a home are accepted from 15 January to 31 August. The fund says its 2026 allocation has been used up, and the next intake starts on 15 January 2027.

Note: a mortgage “without a guarantor” doesn’t mean a loan without a charge over property. A guarantor makes a written undertaking to pay the debt if the borrower doesn’t, which is a different obligation from pledging a property. See Mortgage without collateral.

Terms you’ll see in a bank’s offer

Term	What it means
LTV	The loan as a share of the value of the charged property. A €80,000 loan on a property worth €100,000 is an LTV of 80%.
DSTI	All your monthly loan payments as a share of your net income after deducting the subsistence minimum.
DTI	All your debts relative to your annual net income.
Term	The period over which you repay the loan, normally 30 years at most.
Fixation	The period during which the interest rate doesn’t change. It’s usually shorter than the term. When it ends, you get a new rate.
Charge (záložné právo)	The bank’s right to recover the debt from the property if you don’t repay as agreed. It’s registered in the cadastre.
APRC (RPMN)	The annual percentage rate of charge. It includes fees and mandatory services as well as interest, so it’s better for comparing offers than the rate alone.

You’ll find more on rates and fixation in Interest rates explained and Interest rate fixation.

NBS limits in force until 31 December 2026

These rules come from NBS Decree No. 10/2016, as amended, and apply to new housing loans:

• LTV: a loan can be at most 90% of the property’s value. Loans above 80% may make up at most 20% of a bank’s new lending volume per half-year (22% per quarter). The standard is therefore 80%.
• Property value: LTV uses the lowest of the purchase price, the expert valuation and the bank’s internal valuation.
• DSTI: all your monthly payments may be at most 60% of your average net income over the last 6 months after deducting the subsistence minimum for you and the people you support. From 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 the subsistence minimum is €295.22 for the first adult, €205.96 for each additional adult and €134.80 for each dependent child.
• Stress test: the bank counts the higher of two payments – the contractual payment, or the payment at a rate at least 2 percentage points higher over a 30-year term. For fixations over 10 years, 1 point is enough. The stressed rate is capped at 6%. The test doesn’t apply if the rate is fixed for the whole term.
• DTI: total debt may be at most 8 times annual net income. If you’re 41 or older and would still be repaying after age 65, the limit is 8 − 0.25 × (age − 40), with a minimum of 3.
• What counts towards DTI: the new loan, the balances of existing mortgages and consumer loans, the used part of credit cards and overdrafts, and 20% of their unused limits.
• Term: 30 years at most. A bank may grant a longer term for at most 10% of its lending volume per quarter.
• Income: a sworn statement isn’t enough. The bank verifies income with, for example, an employer’s certificate, a bank statement or a tax return.

Banks may also lend a small share of loans above the DSTI and DTI limits. You aren’t entitled to such an exception.

What changes from 1 January 2027

NBS Decree No. 3/2026 of 28 September 2026 splits the LTV limit by type of borrower:

Period	First home, applicants up to 35	Third property	Everyone else
1 January – 30 June 2027	90%	80%	80%
1 July – 31 December 2027	90%	70%	80%
From 1 January 2028	90%	70%	80%

A first home means every applicant and co-borrower is aged 35 or under, owns no residential property and the loan is for buying or building. The 70% limit applies to borrowers who already own two residential properties between them, or when the number isn’t known. Properties in Slovakia owned at least half count, including the combined shares of co-borrowers. Banks will still be able to lend up to 90% to other applicants for a limited volume of loans, but the share allowed for these exceptions gradually falls. See 90% mortgage for details.

How much of your own money you need

Under the standard 80% LTV, you pay at least 20% of the property’s value from your own money. Because the bank uses the lowest of the values, you also cover any gap between a higher purchase price and a lower valuation.

On top of that, allow for these costs:

• an expert valuation or a valuation of the property – the price is set by the valuer or the bank,
• the application to register in the cadastre – €100 on paper, €50 electronically, or €300 or €150 for an expedited decision,
• the loan arrangement fee – it varies between banks, and some waive it on conditions,
• property insurance – the bank can require it, but it must also accept a policy from another insurer with equivalent cover.

How getting a mortgage works

1. Estimate how much you can borrow. The income-based mortgage calculator shows an indicative amount under the NBS limits.
2. Ask for a preliminary assessment. Some banks, such as Slovenská sporiteľňa, accept an application before you’ve chosen a property. You’ll still need security to sign the contract.
3. Choose and check the property. Check the owner and any registered encumbrances, such as charges, on the title record (list vlastníctva).
4. Have the property valued. The bank relies on an expert valuation or, for some properties, its own internal valuation.
5. Sign the loan agreement and the charge agreement. The bank gives you the European Standardised Information Sheet (ESIS), which also describes any mandatory additional services, such as insurance.
6. Meet the drawdown conditions. 365.bank, mBank and Fio banka, for example, release the money once the application to register the charge has been filed with the cadastre.
7. The bank pays out. You become the owner only when the cadastre approves the registration, not when you sign the purchase contract.

For the detailed process and documents, see How to get a mortgage, and for banks’ conditions, see Mortgage requirements.

Repayments, overpayments and the end of fixation

You repay a mortgage in regular monthly payments. You can work out the amount with the mortgage calculator.

Under section 18 of the Housing Loan Act, as worded from 1 December 2025, you can repay up to 30% of the principal per calendar year free of charge, once a month. At the end of a fixation period you can also repay the whole loan free of charge. Otherwise the bank may only charge its actual costs, at most 1% of the amount repaid. See Early mortgage repayment.

Where to go next

• Buying a house: Mortgage for a house
• Buying a flat: Mortgage for a flat
• Aged 35 or under: Mortgage for young borrowers, including the tax bonus on interest paid
• Less than 20% of your own money: 90% mortgage
• Want to borrow more: How to qualify for a bigger mortgage and What income banks accept
• Sorting out insurance: Mortgage payment protection insurance and Home insurance for a mortgage