Have house prices really outpaced wages? Czechia and Slovakia, 2005–2025

SVET ZA 5 MINÚT · approximately 7–8 minutes to read Comparison period: 2005–2025 · dataset prepared on 17 October 2026

Pay has risen substantially over the past twenty years. Yet opening a property website can leave you feeling that owning a home is further out of reach than ever. Is that just a perception, or have property prices actually pulled away from wages?

We compared house prices with average gross wages in Czechia and Slovakia. For 2005–2025, the answer is clear: house prices rose faster in both countries. But it was not a straight climb, and the final result does not tell us what mortgage a particular family can afford.

Twenty years in four numbers

Change between 2005 and 2025	Czechia	Slovakia
House prices	+249.7%	+214.3%
Average gross wages	+165.3%	+182.5%
Change in the house-price-index-to-wage ratio	+31.8%	+11.2%

Our calculations use ECB house price series and national wage series. Czech price observations for 2005–2007 and the Slovak observation for 2005 are flagged as estimates. Sources and methodological details appear below. [1–4]

Czech house prices reached approximately 3.50 times their starting level, while wages reached 2.65 times theirs. Slovakia’s corresponding figures were approximately 3.14 times for prices and 2.83 times for wages.

One common misunderstanding matters here: an increase of 250% takes a value to roughly 350% of its original level. The original hundred per cent remains; the increase comes on top.

How to read the bars in our video

All four bars start at an index value of 100 in 2005. This does not mean that a home cost the same as a salary, or that housing was equally affordable in both countries. We are comparing each measure with its own starting point.

A value of 200 means it has doubled; 300 means it has tripled. The labels above the bars show percentage growth since 2005, so a bar at index 200 carries a +100% label. There is no need to convert Czech crowns into euros: we are comparing changes, not the price tags of individual homes.

The chart contains 21 annual observations. Smooth movement between them is animation, not monthly data. The price index also differs from an average price per square metre: it tracks prices of new and existing homes, rather than rents. [1, 2, 5]

The most interesting part happened in the middle

House prices finish ahead of wages, but the lead changed along the way.

Prices rose sharply up to 2008, particularly in Slovakia. Relative to 2005, the Slovak house price index was approximately 78% higher, whereas wages were up about 26%. Prices then fell and went through several weaker years. Meanwhile, wages gradually made up some of the gap.

By 2014, cumulative wage growth since 2005 was actually slightly ahead of house price growth in both countries. Later, the order reversed again. Prices rose particularly strongly in 2021 and 2022; the annual price indices used here then fell in 2023. By 2025, prices had increased again.

This explains why two honestly calculated comparisons can produce different impressions. The starting point matters. Beginning in 2008 would leave out the preceding boom and, in Slovakia, start close to the earlier price peak. Starting in 2005 lets us show the climb towards that peak as well. It is not the only legitimate starting year, but the chosen period must always be visible.

What does “1.5 times as fast” actually mean?

The video compares total percentage increases: roughly 250 divided by 165 gives 1.5 for Czechia; 214 divided by 183 gives approximately 1.2 for Slovakia. These are rounded ratios of cumulative increases, not annual growth rates or numbers of salaries needed to buy a home.

It would therefore be wrong to say that Czech housing became 85% more expensive relative to wages. The figure of roughly 85 comes from subtracting the growth percentages; it is a difference in percentage points.

To measure the change in the relationship between prices and wages, we divide their final growth factors. In Czechia, 3.50 / 2.65 gives a price-to-wage ratio approximately 32% higher than at the start. For Slovakia, 3.14 / 2.83 gives an increase of roughly 11%.

Imagine a purely hypothetical home initially costing ten annual gross salaries. Applying the Czech changes would take that relationship to approximately 13.2 annual salaries; applying the Slovak changes would take it to 11.1. These are not actual national affordability levels or years of saving. The example simply translates the ratio into a familiar situation.

Why even a cheaper home can mean a higher payment

Buyers usually face two prices: the price of the home and the price of borrowed money.

Consider an illustrative €200,000 mortgage over 30 years, repaid through equal monthly instalments. At 2% annual interest, the monthly payment is approximately €739. At 5%, it is approximately €1,074. The same loan principal, but about €335 more each month.

This is our own illustrative calculation, excluding fees and insurance and assuming the rate remains unchanged throughout the modelled term. It is not a current bank offer. It shows why a home can become harder for a new buyer to finance even without a further increase in its price.

ECB research therefore considers household income, house prices and mortgage rates together when assessing affordability. Our chart compares prices with average wages; it does not measure the burden of mortgage payments. [6]

Savings are another obstacle. If a hypothetical buyer plans to fund one fifth of the purchase price themselves, a €150,000 home requires €30,000, while a €250,000 home requires €50,000. This is not a universal bank requirement. It simply shows how a higher price raises the cash needed when the buyer’s own funding share stays the same.

The average wage is not everyone’s pay packet

An average can rise because the highest salaries increase or because the composition of employment changes. An individual worker need not receive a pay rise at the same pace. The median—the wage of the person in the middle of an ordered distribution—would answer a somewhat different question.

We also use gross wages. Households pay for housing out of money left after taxes, contributions and everyday expenses. One income is different from two; a family with children has different commitments from a single person.

Similarly, a national price index cannot describe every local market. Someone looking for a particular flat in Prague, Brno, Bratislava or a smaller town faces local prices and local choices. A countrywide trend cannot reveal that person’s exact budget.

Faster percentage growth in Slovak wages does not mean that Slovak wages are higher. A lower starting level can produce a larger percentage increase. Nor does the smaller deterioration in Slovakia’s price-to-wage ratio establish that housing there is now more affordable in absolute terms than in Czechia.

Why can house prices pull away from wages?

Demand depends on more than a buyer’s current pay. Savings, proceeds from another property, family support and borrowing can all contribute to a purchase. Supply takes time to respond: land, infrastructure and completed homes cannot appear overnight. ECB analysis examines financing, expectations and supply constraints when discussing housing market developments. [7]

Our chart does not identify how much of the increase each factor caused. That would require additional evidence and a separate analysis, not just four bars.

Existing ownership also matters. A homeowner may see their asset increase in value while someone without property faces a larger sum to raise before buying. However, an owner selling one home and buying a larger one in a similar market does not automatically find the move easier simply because their existing property has appreciated.

The twenty-year comparison supports a specific conclusion: average gross wage growth did not keep pace with house price growth in either country. Assessing affordability for a real person means adding their location, income, savings and financing to those national numbers.

Methodology and sources

We use annual nationwide price series from the ECB’s RESR database, with Eurostat identified as the provider, alongside national average gross wage series. All four series are rebased to 2005 = 100. Both prices and wages are nominal, without adjustment for consumer price inflation. Inflation can affect the ability to save, but dividing both series by the same consumer price index would leave their relative ratio unchanged.

Czech price observations for 2005–2007 and Slovakia’s 2005 observation carry the estimate flag E in the export used. These are source-provided estimates; we have not invented missing annual observations. The Czech 2025 wage figure is preliminary in the release used. The national wage series do not have identical coverage, and the historical Slovak series includes coverage changes. Treat this as a comparison of developments, rather than a perfectly harmonised ranking of countries.

Slovak wages before euro adoption are converted at the fixed rate of SKK 30.1260 per euro. We do not turn the house price index into a fictional apartment price. Growth is calculated from the ratio of the final value to the initial value; the change in the price-to-wage ratio is calculated by dividing their respective growth factors. Published data may subsequently be revised.