New apartments in Prague increased in price by 5.5 percent to 112,233 CZK/m² by the end of March

Prague – The selling prices of new apartments in Prague at the end of March increased by an average of 5.5 percent year-on-year to 112,233 crowns per square meter. The pace of price increases rose from 2.2 percent at the end of last year. The number of sold apartments increased by about three-fifths to 2,100, the highest number in the last ten years. The number of apartments on offer from developers decreased by more than a tenth year-on-year to 4,200, the lowest in the last three years.

“The demand for new apartments continues, which is reflected in the average selling prices. Whether it’s for personal use or as an investment. Insufficient supply, caused by the lengthy approval process for new construction, combined with rising inputs, is pushing prices up. In recent months, even more expensive and large apartments have found their new owners, which often wait longer for buyers,” said Petr Michálek, Chairman of the Board of Skanska Reality. Compared to the end of last year, the prices of new constructions in the capital have increased by four percent. Since mid-2015, when the price development began to sharply turn, prices of new apartments in Prague have risen by 102 percent.

By category, developers sold the most two-room apartments, accounting for 44 percent. This was followed by one-room apartments (23 percent), three-room apartments (22 percent), and four-room apartments (11 percent). Among individual districts, developers sold the most apartments in Prague 5 (23 percent), Prague 9 (18 percent), and Prague 4 (16 percent). Conversely, in Prague 1 and 2, it was only three percent combined.

“Currently, we are witnessing record-high demand for new housing on the market. The highest in the last ten years. We also expect strong interest in the upcoming period. However, the situation is still complicated by insufficient new residential construction, which does not react timely and flexibly to the public's needs. The reason remains the same — complicated and lengthy approvals for new projects,” added Marcel Soural, Chairman of the Board of Trigema.

The highest number of apartments on offer from developers was in Prague 5 and Prague 4, accounting for about two-fifths combined. The share of Prague 9 decreased compared to previous years. Previously about one-fifth, this year in the first quarter it was about one-tenth. Prague 1 had 28 apartments, accounting for 0.7 percent.

“The situation is starting to become critical. The new supply is absolutely failing to cover the increased demand, which is why there are now the fewest apartments on the market in the last three years, and for this reason, prices of new apartments continue to rise. Unless there is a change in the approval situation for new apartments and the local authorities' resistance to new construction is unblocked, the current state will not improve,” said Dušan Kunovský, owner of Central Group.

According to the General Director of Finep, Tomáš Pardubický, the importance of cooperative and rental housing will increase. "We want to continue collaborating in this area with housing funds, which can offer a very interesting approach to rental housing due to the nature of their operation," added Pardubický.

According to statistics from Trigema, Skanska Reality, and Central Group, a sold apartment is considered one that has been issued a zoning decision and has a minimum reservation fee of 50,000 crowns. According to data from the competing Ekospol, which uses a different methodology, prices increased year-on-year by 2.1 percent to 108,976 crowns per square meter.

Development of the average price per m² of sold new apartments in Prague (including VAT):

Period	Price (CZK)	Year-on-year change (pct)
Q2 2013	54,308
Q3 2013	54,401
Q4 2013	54,738
Q1 2014	55,800
Q2 2014	55,500	2.2
Q3 2014	55,751	2.5
Q4 2014	56,177	2.6
Q1 2015	56,178	0.7
Q2 2015	55,555	0.1
Q3 2015	58,156	4.3
Q4 2015	59,885	6.6
Q1 2016	60,517	7.7
Q2 2016	65,922	18.7
Q3 2016	69,517	19.5
Q4 2016	71,567	19.5
Q1 2017	72,131	19.2
Q2 2017	75,791	15.0
Q3 2017	83,150	19.6
Q4 2017	85,223	19.1
Q1 2018	88,552	22.8
Q2 2018	94,000	24.0
Q3 2018	96,000	15.5
Q4 2018	101,091	18.6
Q1 2019	104,666	18.2
Q2 2019	102,058	8.6
Q3 2019	106,713	11.5
Q4 2019	105,561	4.4
Q1 2020	106,392	1.6
Q2 2020	108,261	6.1
Q3 2020	110,117	3.2
Q4 2020	107,877	2.2
Q1 2021	112,233	5.5