While over the summer we reported that rent in Prague is, according to the property portal RealityMIX, stagnating, or, according to the Sreality portal, is rising only slightly, fresh data published by the Bezrealitky.cz platform point to different current trends. This service, which connects housing seekers with flat owners directly, reports that after the summer holidays rents rose a third faster than in the same period a year ago. The start of autumn is a traditional time when many people see their existing leases expire, so more house hunters start looking for new housing on the market. That pushes prices up. It is important to note that the data from Bezrealitky.cz cover the whole of the Czech Republic, yet at the same time they capture only a fairly small slice of the overall supply and a rather specific type of demand. September statistics also regularly show an increase in young people who, just before the academic year begins, look for accommodation where they study. For more on this specific segment, the current shortage of dormitory beds and the low capacity of private student housing, read more in a recent article in the FLAT SERVICE Advisor.
A jump in housing costs
The sharpest growth in September, 29 percent year on year, was recorded in the South Bohemian Region, where tenants have to set aside an average of 260 Kč per square metre a month. Rental housing in the Olomouc Region rose by 28 percent, just one percentage point less. Its average price now stands at 280 Kč per metre. Third place (in terms of trends) went to the Pardubice Region, where rents grew by 22 percent compared with September of the previous year. A square metre of rental property there costs an average of 274 Kč.
The rise in the cost of rental housing in South Bohemia is driven partly by increasing price levels in České Budějovice and other towns on the rail corridor leading to the capital
Expensive living in Prague
If we look at absolute amounts instead of percentage changes, September’s most expensive rents in the country were in Prague, which will hardly surprise regular readers of our blog. The average price per square metre of a rental flat in the capital is currently 446 Kč. For comparison: last September it was 386 Kč and in August this year 442 Kč. As our earlier articles this year showed, there are very significant swings in both directions between individual Prague city districts. A long-term problem of the capital is the low supply of rental flats. In September, Bezrealitky.cz listed a tenth fewer of them than at the start of the summer. As a result, people are increasingly considering housing in Central Bohemia, where interest in property is therefore growing considerably.
Because of expensive rents in Prague, more and more people are looking for housing beyond the capital’s borders. Demand for housing in the Central Bohemian Region, especially in places with excellent transport links to the city centre, is now enormous
In the Central Bohemian Region, monthly rent is almost 150 Kč per metre cheaper than in the capital. The September average here was 308 Kč per square metre of rental property. Do you think you are currently renting out your investment flat for an adequate rent? Write to sales@flatservice.cz or call +420 277 000 330 and we will calculate an estimate of the monthly rent we could offer you with the professional management services of FLAT SERVICE. Our experts have many years of experience with the property market and a perfect overview of current market developments, thanks to which they can set the right price for every property.
