Brownfield projects can help with the shortage of flats. People living in the center are cheaper for Prague Business
Prague needs to build at least ten thousand flats every year in order to improve the availability of housing in the metropolis. And I believe that the price per square meter has doubled in the last ten to an average of 110 thousand crowns per meter. However, high prices and the coronavirus pandemic did not dampen the events in the Prague real estate market.
People from flats after the H-System in Horoměřice are again in danger of being evicted by executors |
According to the Central Group’s February data, a record two thousand new flats were sold in Prague in the last quarter of last year, which was less than six thousand flats for the whole year.
“For the Czech residential market, 2020 was the third strongest year in the past decade in terms of sales. People consider managing an apartment a safe investment, in addition to very low interest rates, “said Petr Michálek, CEO of Skanska Reality.
The city already has a strategy
What is a brownfield?Brownfield is real estate (territory, site, land, building) that is unused, neglected and can be contaminated. It arises as a remnant of industrial, agricultural, residential, military or other activities. Brownfield cannot be used and used effectively without its regeneration process. |
Generally speaking, Prague definitely suffers from low construction. According to the Finsider.cz server, there are still more than 200 development projects, however, most of them are approved for the years 2022 and 2023. “However, the demand for apartments in Prague is strong, its satisfaction is hindered mainly by slow approval processes,” says Michálek.
But after a long time, better times are shining. Recently, the Institute of Planning and Development of the Capital m of Prague (IPR) introduced new rules of construction in Prague, which primarily sets the conditions in relation to investors. According to them, for example, developers will contribute to the financing of kindergartens, city apartments and parks.
|
And in the coming months, the Prague City Council should focus on approving the strategy for housing development in the capital. This should be the basic strategic framework, which should formulate “the main principles and the desired direction of the agendas, which in the context of the capital. m of Prague are related to the topic of housing “, says in the strategy. “The goal is to build 9,000 flats a year and own 35,000 city flats by 2030. The situation should be mainly on unused brownfields and suitable urban land,” says IPR, who drafted the strategy.
The pandemic did not affect the market
Despite the fact that prices on the Prague real estate market are high and the coronavirus pandemic has crippled a number of sectors of the domestic economy, events in the housing market have certainly not lost momentum. As follows from the statements of real estate companies in the Czech market for CTK, they provide them with more rose, at some than ten percent.
According to companies, the interest of buyers temporarily declined only in a few weeks after the declaration of a state of emergency last year in mid-March, the autumn second wave did not have a significant effect.
The reason for the high demand was generally the conditions on the financial markets, where many people preferred investing in real estate to financial activities such as government bonds. They will not bring out almost anything for many years and will probably not even cover inflation.
Development of the volume of new mortgages and the number of new flats sold in Prague.
Thus, high prices can be a brake on what is happening on the market. Although, according to Petr Hlaváček, Deputy Mayor of the Capital City of Prague, his competences include spatial planning and development, the price level of housing in Prague is not so different in comparison with other cities in Europe.
“We are doing badly in terms of local salaries. In this context, we can talk about a housing crisis, when this so-called price crisis is destroying the city and does not allow its development, “he told Peak.cz exclusively.
Brownfield chances for Prague
Areas of former factories – the so-called brownfields – could become an opportunity to improve the housing supply in Prague. There are several dozen of them in Prague, in the past there were industrial areas or railway stations in these areas.
According to IPR director Ondřej Boháč, constructions on brownfields and the associated denser population of the city could contribute to better management of the metropolis. “We have done studies that have shown that living in the center is about thirteen times cheaper for Prague due to cost sharing and infrastructure than an individual living on the outskirts of the city,” he told Hospodářské noviny recently.
Projects near the center of Prague, such as the reconstruction of the surroundings of Masaryk Railway Station, are mainly monitored in the media. The local premises are represented by the Penta group, with designs for even prepared by the world-famous, recently deceased architect Zaha Hadid. Another significant project is the reconstruction near the Smíchov railway station, where Sekyra Group will build a whole new district or area in the Bubny-Zátory area.
According to the IPR, the area of Bubny (up to 27,000 inhabitants), the Žižkov Freight Station (up to 15,000 inhabitants), Smíchovské nádraží, Rohanské nábřeží or Nová Ruzyně have the highest potential for housing.
However, it should also be built on smaller areas, where these are not such significant projects, but they should also improve the situation with housing in Prague. For example, near the Lihovar in Smíchov stops, in the Koh-i-noor factory in Vršovice or in the former Interlov complex near the Roztyly metro station.
Prague wants to rent apartments from private owners. This will limit Airbnb services |
“Prague is in a phase like Munich 20 years ago, which also supported construction on brownfields. Our first duty is to help the city heal through the brownfields and use the existing transport infrastructure that is already with them, ”thinks Hlaváček.
Does it have to be built?
However, the development of housing construction has not only supporters. For example, opposition politician and senator Ladislav Kos believes that Prague is already inhabited enough, so there is no need to build more apartments in the metropolis.
“There is a thesis that there is little being built in Prague. And that there is a shortage of apartments and prices are high. And in order for the market to be in order, it is necessary to build more and more, “the senator, who is also the opposition representative in Prague 11, does not share the view of the need for further construction.
However, he admits that if it should be built somewhere, then on free brownfields in Prague. “Such a scandal is beginning to appear that every area that is green, not overgrown with trees, where homeless people are offered, is called a brownfield. I definitely do not like such a concept, “his critical opinion.
And he points to the project of the planned development of the Interlov industrial area near the Roztyly metro station. According to him, instead of the planned project, “unmaintained greenery naturally passing into the Krč Forest” should remain in place. In reality, it is a raft growing on the rubble and dumps of the former Interlov complex. The intention of the project is to build an office building that would block the noise from the South Junction junction and outages from the city, and this building is already shielded by housing construction, which is complemented by a public park at the forest border.