Proof of that is the uproar that broke out on social media over a fake listing, in which an unknown advertiser on one of the leading Czech portals offered a peculiar mouldy cellar space with a shower cubicle as housing for 6,000 Kč a month. After a few days it turned out that the fabricated screenshot came from the workshop of SOCDEM and its leader Jana Maláčová, who wanted to draw attention to the allegedly catastrophic housing situation in Prague.
The current state of the property market
It is true that the purchase prices of new properties in the Czech Republic are breaking records due to high demand, yet at the same time the state offers a huge safety net to everyone who struggles to afford dignified housing. According to demographers, prices of both flats and houses should also start to fall, roughly around 2030. Anyone looking for rental housing can use the unique detailed map published directly by the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic to find out in which locations rent is cheaper. The year 2025 is also marked by cheaper mortgages, which reduces the overall cost of acquiring a property. No wonder, then, that developers have been reporting growing demand for flats in recent weeks. A chapter of its own is the housing benefit, to which, under the current rules, hundreds of thousands of households are entitled. Since October last year it has also been possible to apply for subsidised housing construction under a huge investment programme called Affordable Rental Housing. You will find everything important about it in a separate article. The fund will be financed from resources provided to the Czech Republic by the European Union, and around 7 billion Kč has been earmarked so far.
The September elections will decide the future direction of our country in a number of areas
At the turn of the year, the National Economic Council of the Government (NERV) issued its own recommendations, presenting a document to the public entitled Twelve Key Measures to Strengthen Housing Affordability in the Czech Republic. What other remedies for housing affordability will the individual leading political parties come up with ahead of the autumn elections? We have included information on the political entities currently represented in the upper chamber of the Czech parliament and ranked them according to the latest voter preference polls.
ANO: Subsidised mortgages and cheap energy
The ANO 2011 movement is still working on its programme for the autumn elections, yet its leader Andrej Babiš has already publicly shared several priorities concerning housing affordability. He promised, for example, cheaper energy (without specifying how a government under his leadership would achieve this). A potentially very controversial topic that Babiš has been discussing is subsidised mortgages. The movement's leader has said he does not understand why mortgage rates are at around five percent. An evergreen that almost all the parties running have provisionally included in their programmes is speeding up the permit process for building new flats. As for programme priorities (whether long-term or for the 2025 elections), we would look for them in vain on the website of ANO 2011.
SPOLU: Compromises between 3 parties
The coalition of ODS, TOP 09 and KDU-ČSL will once again go into the autumn elections under the SPOLU banner. No wonder, then, that a tug-of-war is currently under way between the individual parties, each trying to push through its own priorities for the upcoming elections. On the ODS website we do find 4 long-term programme pillars, but they do not concern housing. Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura wants to push through, before the elections, an amendment that would allow pension funds to invest in the construction of flats. On its website, TOP 09 publishes its views and positions on key policy areas in a special section. However, their definitions reflect the situation from the previous elections, so among them – one is tempted to say so far – we will not find housing. In 2021, party leader Markéta Pekarová Adamová wrote on her Facebook that “housing is a basic human need” and proposed several specific measures. The government approved only a minimum of them – it did cut VAT on renovations from 15% to 12% (not 10%, as Pekarová Adamová had proposed) and introduced a price map, but preferential mortgages for first-time buyers, for instance, never materialised.
VAT on renovations did fall, but not as TOP 09 had promised
The Christian Democrats would like to push through legislation that would drive foreign capital out of the market – a new law should restrict or completely ban purchases of flats in the Czech Republic by people who are not citizens of the European Union. The measure, proposed by party leader Marek Výborný, does work in various forms in a number of countries, but critics point to its poor enforceability and the ease of circumventing it. At the same time, it is highly unlikely that the current opposition – and quite possibly also the current coalition partners led by the strongly pro-market ODS – would agree to such a proposal.
STAN: A new law and loans for municipalities
On the STAN website we so far find only the programme for last year's regional elections, so the most important communication point to date is the new Housing Support Act, submitted by the Ministry for Regional Development under Petr Kulhánek (STAN). It is a document that is the result of several years of negotiations and compromises, and the current four-party coalition would like to pass it before the end of its term. The Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Lukáš Vlček points out that, given the state budget's capacity, the current situation cannot be solved with subsidies. He sees an opportunity in preferential loans for towns and municipalities with a significant reduction of restrictive conditions.
The Pirates: Support that is really no support
It is worth recalling that the aforementioned Housing Support Act was originally drafted under Ivan Bartoš, the former leader of the Czech Pirate Party. It was much more robust and helped a significantly wider range of people than the pared-down bill now being submitted. When they joined the government in 2021, the Pirates set out to be the “social conscience of the government” and to balance right-wing proposals with more left-leaning alternatives. The Pirates' long-term programme does not explicitly mention housing affordability. However, the Pirates consistently promote systemic changes in the approach to social security, proposing, for example, a so-called basic income as a possible alternative. The Affordable Housing programme was prepared by the Czech Ministry for Regional Development while still under Ivan Bartoš. At the same time, it should be noted that at the municipal level the Pirates often speak out very loudly against developer construction and block a number of residential projects not only in Prague. One example is the Prague 10 district, where they publicly boast on their own website about organising petition drives to prevent the construction of flats and about fighting high-rise development.
Introducing an unconditional income for all residents of the Czech Republic would fundamentally transform the economy and most likely cause a sharp rise in prices
SPD: Strong opinions, but unclear funding
The only political entity represented in the Chamber of Deputies that currently has its priorities in the area of housing affordability officially published on its website is the Freedom and Direct Democracy movement (SPD). It advocates simpler and faster building permits through an amendment to the Building Act and interest-free mortgages for starter housing for young families (through favourable loans from a “state bank”). It is not entirely clear from the programme how the movement's leader Tomio Okamura intends to finance these priorities. SPD also advocates introducing a better system for allocating municipal flats and supporting cooperative housing. The party wants to release state-owned land and allow new buildings to be constructed on it. It draws inspiration from the Austrian Baugruppe programme and the Dutch Cohousing model. Our company FLAT SERVICE provides professional management of residential property portfolios. We have 20 years of experience and every day we make life easier for those who want to rent out their flat without worries. Get in touch at sales@flatservice.cz or call +420 277 000 330 – we will be happy to tell you more about our FLAT SERVICE Partner and FLAT SERVICE Garant services.
