IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cnb/wpaper/2026-02.html

When Monetary and Macroprudential Policies Tighten Together: Evidence from the Czech Mortgage Market

Author

Listed:
  • Martin Hodula
  • Simona Malovana
  • Lukas Pfeifer

Abstract

This paper examines how mortgage lending adjusts when higher interest rates coincide with tighter borrower-based regulatory constraints. Using loan-level data from the Czech Republic for 2020-2023, we exploit a unique policy sequence that combines rapid monetary tightening with the subsequent re-tightening of LTV, DTI, and DSTI limits in order to trace changes in borrower and loan characteristics among new originations. During the initial phase of tightening, higher interest rates curtailed mortgage lending, yet some adjustment was still possible: new loans started to feature higher downpayments and longer maturities, which partly absorbed the rise in financing costs. As tightening persisted and borrower-based limits were reinstated, these adjustment margins narrowed. Liquidity buffers were depleted, and new lending increasingly reflected financially stronger borrowers with lower leverage and lower default risk. The evidence further shows that while monetary policy primarily reduced lending volumes, it was the re-application of borrower-based limits that improved the risk composition of new loans.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Hodula & Simona Malovana & Lukas Pfeifer, 2026. "When Monetary and Macroprudential Policies Tighten Together: Evidence from the Czech Mortgage Market," Working Papers 2026/02, Czech National Bank, Research and Statistics Department.
    • Handle: RePEc:cnb:wpaper:2026/02
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cnb.cz/export/sites/cnb/en/economic-research/.galleries/research_publications/cnb_wp/cnbwp_2026_02.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Akinci, Ozge & Olmstead-Rumsey, Jane, 2018. "How effective are macroprudential policies? An empirical investigation," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 33-57.
    2. Jiri Gregor & Jan Janku & Martin Melecky, 2022. "From Central Counter to Local Living: Pass-Through of Monetary Policy to Mortgage Lending Rates in Districts," Working Papers 2022/9, Czech National Bank, Research and Statistics Department.
    3. Atif Mian & Amir Sufi & Emil Verner, 2017. "Household Debt and Business Cycles Worldwide," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(4), pages 1755-1817.
    4. Reint Gropp & Thomas Mosk & Steven Ongena & Carlo Wix, 2019. "Banks Response to Higher Capital Requirements: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(1), pages 266-299.
    5. Zohair Alam & Adrian Alter & Jesse Eiseman & Gaston Gelos & Heedon Kang & Machiko Narita & Erlend Nier & Naixi Wang, 2025. "Digging Deeper—Evidence on the Effects of Macroprudential Policies from a New Database," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 57(5), pages 1135-1166, August.
    6. Araujo, Juliana & Patnam, Manasa & Popescu, Adina & Valencia, Fabian & Yao, Weijia, 2024. "Effects of macroprudential policy: Evidence from over 6000 estimates," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    7. Mark Gertler & Peter Karadi, 2015. "Monetary Policy Surprises, Credit Costs, and Economic Activity," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 44-76, January.
    8. Peek, Joe & Rosengren, Eric, 1995. "The Capital Crunch: Neither a Borrower nor a Lender Be," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(3), pages 625-638, August.
    9. Jiménez, Gabriel & Ongena, Steven & Peydró, José-Luis & Saurina, Jesús, 2012. "Credit Supply and Monetary Policy: Identifying the Bank Balance-Sheet Channel with Loan Applications," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 102(5), pages 2301-2326.
    10. Jeremy C. Stein & Anil K. Kashyap, 2000. "What Do a Million Observations on Banks Say about the Transmission of Monetary Policy?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(3), pages 407-428, June.
    11. Giovanni Dell'Ariccia & Luc Laeven & Gustavo A. Suarez, 2017. "Bank Leverage and Monetary Policy's Risk-Taking Channel: Evidence from the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(2), pages 613-654, April.
    12. Hodula, Martin & Pfeifer, Lukáš & Ngo, Ngoc Anh, 2025. "Easing of borrower-based measures: Evidence from Czech loan-level data," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    13. Viral V. Acharya & Katharina Bergant & Matteo Crosignani & Tim Eisert & Fergal Mccann, 2022. "The Anatomy of the Transmission of Macroprudential Policies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(5), pages 2533-2575, October.
    14. Hodula, Martin & Melecký, Martin & Pfeifer, Lukáš & Szabo, Milan, 2023. "Cooling the mortgage loan market: The effect of borrower-based limits on new mortgage lending," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    15. van Bekkum, Sjoerd & Gabarro, Marc & Irani, Rustom M. & Peydró, José-Luis, 2024. "The real effects of borrower-based macroprudential policy: Evidence from administrative household-level data," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(S).
    16. Cerutti, Eugenio & Claessens, Stijn & Laeven, Luc, 2017. "The use and effectiveness of macroprudential policies: New evidence," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 203-224.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lara Coulier & Selien De Schryder & Milan van den Heuvel & Tobias Verlaeckt, 2026. "Pushing the Limit: How Borrowers Tackle an LTV Cap," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 26/1138, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    2. Hodula, Martin & Pfeifer, Lukáš & Ngo, Ngoc Anh, 2025. "Easing of borrower-based measures: Evidence from Czech loan-level data," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    3. Altavilla, Carlo & Laeven, Luc & Peydró, José-Luis, 2020. "Monetary and Macroprudential Policy Complementarities: evidence from European credit registers," CEPR Discussion Papers 15539, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Dirma, Mantas & Karmelavičius, Jaunius, 2025. "Micro-assessment of macroprudential borrower-based measures," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    5. Epure, Mircea & Mihai, Irina & Minoiu, Camelia & Peydró, José-Luis, 2018. "Household Credit, Global Financial Cycle, and Macroprudential Policies: Credit Register Evidence from an Emerging Country," EconStor Preprints 216800, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    6. Mircea Epure & Irina Mihai & Camelia Minoiu & José-Luis Peydró, 2024. "Global Financial Cycle, Household Credit, and Macroprudential Policies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 70(11), pages 8096-8115, November.
    7. Alper, Koray & Baskaya, Soner & Shi, Shuren, 2025. "How do macroprudential policies affect corporate investment? Insights from EIBIS data," EIB Working Papers 2025/02, European Investment Bank (EIB).
    8. Coman, Andra & Lloyd, Simon P., 2022. "In the face of spillovers: Prudential policies in emerging economies," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    9. Van Bekkum, Sjoerd & Gabarró, Marc & Irani, Rustom & Peydró, José-Luis, 2019. "Take It to the Limit? The Effects of Household Leverage Caps," EconStor Preprints 216797, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    10. Jiménez, Gabriel & Kuvshinov, Dmitry & Peydro, Jose-Luis & Richter, Björn, 2022. "Monetary policy, inflation, and crises: New evidence from history and administrative data," CEPR Discussion Papers 17761, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Afonso, António & Teixeira, André, 2025. "The paradox of macroprudential policy and sovereign risk," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    12. Martin Cesnak & Andrej Cupak & Pirmin Fessler & Jan Klacso, 2025. "Heterogenous Impacts of Macroprudential Policies: Financial Advisors, Regulatory Caps, and Mortgage Risk," Working and Discussion Papers WP 3/2025, Research Department, National Bank of Slovakia.
    13. Kristin J. Forbes, 2021. "The International Aspects of Macroprudential Policy," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 13(1), pages 203-228, August.
    14. Stijn Claessens & M Ayhan Kose, 2018. "Frontiers of macrofinancial linkages," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 95, May.
    15. Nina Boyarchenko & Giovanni Favara & Moritz Schularick, 2022. "Financial Stability Considerations for Monetary Policy: Empirical Evidence and Challenges," Staff Reports 1003, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    16. Coman, Andra, 2023. "Monetary policy spillovers and the role of prudential policies in the European Union," Working Paper Series 2854, European Central Bank.
    17. William Gatt, 2024. "Loan‐to‐value limits as a macroprudential policy tool: Developments in theory and practice," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 232-267, February.
    18. Coman, Andra, 2025. "Monetary policy spillovers and the role of prudential policies in the European Union," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    19. Elien Meuleman & Rudi Vander Vennet, 2022. "Macroprudential Policy, Monetary Policy, and Euro Zone Bank Risk," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 18(4), pages 1-52, October.
    20. E. Philip Davis & Dilruba Karim & Dennison Noel, 2025. "The determination of bank interest rate margins: Is there a role for macroprudential policy?," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(3), pages 433-463, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cnb:wpaper:2026/02. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Tomas Karhanek (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cnbgvcz.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.