Buy or Rent?

We took a look back at housing trends.

In recent years, Czechs have typically wanted to own their own home — as the saying goes, "my house, my castle." Now, that's changing.

In the past, there was a major boom in people moving to satellite towns near Prague. People were drawn to the chance to live relatively close to the capital, where they commuted to work, while enjoying their own space, nature, and above all the calm of small communities that felt safe. After a while, the trend reversed, and people began moving back closer to the centre. There were several reasons for this: distance from work and schools and the resulting long commutes, traffic problems, and insufficient civic amenities and infrastructure. Above all, families felt they were spending more time apart in their cars than in their dream house with a pool.

As a result, many people chose to trade a house for a flat with good transport links, an ideal neighbourhood, and amenities within walking distance.

We're still in that situation today. Unfortunately, flat prices — and, in recent months, mortgage rates too — keep rising, partly due to Czech National Bank regulations, and fewer and fewer people can afford to buy their own home. Nothing suggests the situation will improve any time soon. Construction is being held back by slow permitting processes, so supply continues to lag behind demand. Occasional media-driven panic doesn't help matters either.

As a result, interest in renting is growing across society — among young families, families with children, students, retirees, and single people alike. Singles and students are a particularly interesting group: students often can't get a place in student housing due to limited capacity, but are frequently interested in flatsharing with friends in new apartments that offer more comfort and independence. People of retirement age either never wanted to own their home and are used to renting, or sold their property due to financial difficulties, wanted to move closer to family, or use the proceeds to cover the cost of assisted living while sharing the remaining funds with family. Young families with children often can't qualify for a mortgage due to low household income and have to wait — for example, until the children are a bit older or until a career advances. Families who can't afford to buy tend to look for larger flats with long-term leases.

The largest and most lucrative group right now is singles — people around 30 who aren't planning to start a family any time soon and want to make the most of life. They aren't tied to a particular place or a mission-critical job, so switching cities or jobs isn't a problem for them. They're comfortable with the short-term leases that are most common, and with living in a small flat. Another similar group is expats, who come for work and look for a rental for a few years in a good location close to their workplace.

Whether leases are long-term or short-term, all these groups share one thing: a severe shortage of flats, especially in large cities. Cities themselves aren't responding to demand adequately or quickly enough by building municipal housing, which allows landlords to gradually raise rents. According to estate agents, a single flat can attract dozens of interested tenants, so you need to move fast on a good offer. Well-renovated flats, or even new-builds offered for rent, are in high demand and preferred by most tenants. Residential projects like View Spořilov are already available for enquiries before construction is even complete, letting tenants reserve a rental on favourable terms in advance. Each of the demand groups mentioned above has different requirements when it comes to location, amenities, and proximity to shops and schools. This project was designed from the outset for young families and families with children, but thanks to its layouts, it's also very well suited to singles.