Setting the ideal rent in line with current market dynamics can be quite a tough nut to crack. For owners, the key is to find a good-quality, solvent tenant, ideally one who wants to move in straight away, and to avoid an unnecessary flood of applicants looking for housing at too low a price. On the other hand, an apartment with an “overshot” rent risks sitting empty for weeks or even months, which for the owner means a missed opportunity. Hitting the ideal figure for each apartment takes years of experience. You need to factor in a whole range of subjective or individual parameters, including not only the size and age of the property, but also the location, local amenities, transport links and noise levels. Every single attribute can have a positive or negative impact on the rent that applicants will be willing to accept.
The latest rent data
For anyone who wants to bring some objective criteria into the process, we have great news. Under implementing Decree No. 456/2024 Coll. on rent price maps, the Ministry of Finance will publish up-to-date data four times a year in an interactive application available online. The data for the end of 2024 is available to view right now, and the ministry will publish updated price maps on its website within 45 days of the end of each calendar quarter. New data for the first quarter of 2025 should therefore appear online by mid-May at the latest. Although we talk about a price map, there are in fact two maps – one shows cadastral areas across the Czech Republic, while the other focuses specifically on the capital.
Rents are traditionally highest in the centre of the metropolis, but the map also reveals some quirks, such as the high prices of studio apartments in the Motol cadastral area (interactive version here)
Both maps give the minimum, maximum and median rent in a given area. Price tags are split between older apartments and new builds. For those who aren’t keen on reading maps, or who want to run their own analysis on the figures, the ministry also offers the data in table form. These provide a touch more detail, as they break rents down by decile.
How to calculate the ideal rent
To make the data as objective as possible, the price map works with the concept of a “reference apartment”, which is defined directly in the decree. This is an unfurnished apartment with no balcony, terrace, garage or other parking space. The property must be in at least “good” technical condition, or even “very good” in the case of apartments in newly built residential buildings. One small drawback is that the map lumps apartments with a kitchenette and those with a separate kitchen into a single category, so it does not distinguish, for example, between 2+kk and 2+1 layouts. Yet the latter effectively has one room more.
Rents vary widely between regions; they are traditionally highest in the Central Bohemian Region and around large conurbations (interactive map here)
If your apartment has any above-standard feature or equipment beyond the reference apartment, you need to add a specific extra amount to the rent in CZK per square metre per month. How does this work in practice? For apartments in new builds, you can add another 7 Kč for a balcony, a full 22 Kč for a terrace and for a garage, charge 32 Kč more per month for every square metre of the property. Extra rent also applies, for instance, to a lift, a construction material other than prefab panel/brick, or unspecified amenities above standard. It is important to note that the price map captures newly concluded lease agreements, so it does not take into account ongoing long-term tenancies, where prices may differ and are usually somewhat lower than the current market rent in the given location. As you have probably gathered from the text above, setting the optimal price tag is still a bit of alchemy. The rent price map from the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic can, however, be an excellent guide for anyone who is unsure. Do you have a vacant apartment in Prague and would like help setting the right rent and choosing the ideal applicant? Don’t hesitate, we’re here for you. FLAT SERVICE has been on the market for over 20 years, we have extensive experience with the professional management of apartment portfolios, and we’ll save you both time and worry. For more information, call +420 277 000 330 or email sales@flatservice.cz.
