It makes rental housing more expensive. Prices are rising in Prague, Brno and the Moravian-Silesian region — ČT24 — Czech Television
Lucie Sladká moved to Prague from Brno for work. For several months, she had been looking for a small studio apartment to rent, which she could earn without any problems. She finally found it, but she had to give up her dream of living near the center. The average for an apartment in a given location will be over thirty-five thousand crowns per month.
As for many of her peers, a rental apartment is the only option for Lucia. Although he works for an international sporting goods chain, he still can’t afford a mortgage. “I would like it, but they won’t give it to me. If the situation somehow improves, or becomes favorable over time, I would like to live in my own apartment,” she confides.
Ondřej Klapal, originally from Žižkov in Prague, also planned to live in his own home. He didn’t have enough money to buy an apartment in the district, so he chose a housing estate on the outskirts of Prague. “I have two jobs. This apartment was the cheapest on the market at the time,” says Klapal, who got the mortgage three years ago when interest rates were low.
But now he does not rule out that he will move to a rental again. If the bank suddenly raises his payments at the end of the fixation, he will go elsewhere and rent his studio apartment to someone else. There is the greatest interest in small apartments on the outskirts of Prague.
Rents in studios on the outskirts of the capital have risen by more than a fifth over the past year. However, according to real estate agents, it is the apartments that will start to come on the market, the neighboring owners do not have mortgage payments and can have apartments with their parents.
Panel housing estates
Rents are also rising in panel apartments in housing estates, yet this type of housing is still among the most affordable. Most of the houses that began to be built under socialism are insulated and after reconstruction – the lower energy consumption also attracts interested parties.
The Bystrcké housing estate was established on the outskirts of Brno in the 1970s and is one of the largest in the city. There are roughly eight and a half thousand apartments on it, in which over twenty thousand people live. Apartments with the size of 1+1 are mainly rented here by young people. Ten to fifteen of them will come on the tour. Roughly three of them will show more serious interest.
According to Martina Fadrná from the Bravis reality company, the monthly rent for a 1+1 apartment with an area of 38 square meters is around thirteen thousand, including deposits. Most of the apartments are unfurnished. For example, only the kitchen is available. But there is currently the greatest interest in living in a renovated and equipped apartment.
“As far as the younger generation is concerned, it is usually their first home, while seniors, on the other hand, are leaving large apartments to save energy,” explains tenant Petr Roták from the IDON real estate company.