Even three hundred applicants for one apartment. Rents increased by a third
The desire for rentals rose in June after applicants who wanted their own apartment could not get a mortgage. In addition to this, university students traditionally joined in September with a demand for rents, and now also a group of people who have to downsize due to rising prices and are changing their housing to a cheaper one.
According to the Bezrealitky portal, the number of people looking for rental housing increased by 40 percent in September, while since March the number of requests has roughly quadrupled. “Compared to last year, our demand is now double,” said Next Reality CEO Robert Hanzl.
In Prague and Brno, 35 percent of advertisements at Bezrealitka are closed and withdrawn within three days, half within eight days of publication. “Due to high demand, apartments are leased quickly, with contracts being signed the same week the ad is published,” reports the Re/Max network.
Bezrealitky states that, on average, 30 applicants apply for one ad in the Czech Republic. In Prague, just like at Re/Max, there are 43 interested parties. “The most attractive advertisements, whether in terms of layout, location or price, have more than 300 interested parties within three days,” reports the Bezrealitky portal.
According to Bezrealitka, the nationwide average price per square meter is 230 crowns, and in Prague it reached 312 crowns per square meter. Next Reality reports an average of 400 crowns in the metropolis, which is a year-on-year increase of 30 percent. In Brno, according to Bezrealitka, a meter costs 265 CZK/m2Next Reality has 350 CZK/m2.
Re/max reports a year-on-year increase in prices by a fifth in Prague and Brno. For example, a 2+1 apartment in Prague’s Malešice is now rented for around 17,000 crowns. The company realitymix.cz has statistics on its website that the average rent of an apartment is 60m2 it is over 21 thousand crowns in Prague.
Due to the high demand, real estate companies expect further price increases. In Prague, a square meter could cost up to 500 crowns.
“It will rise at the moment when mortgage interest rates are reduced. This will result in an increase in the availability of mortgages, and thus also logically increase interest in property purchases at the expense of rentals,” said Hanzl from Next Reality.
The head of Bezrealitka, Jan Škrabánek, thinks that the market could stabilize in three months, thanks to the increasing number of properties that will be offered. It could be energy-intensive houses and large apartments.
“In this way, a significant supply of real estate, which has been lacking so far, could gradually emerge. We are talking about tens of thousands of new places for rent,” says Škrabánek.