The Prague Archbishopric will invest 3 billion CZK in rental housing by 2025

Prague - The Archdiocese of Prague will invest approximately three billion crowns into rental housing through its development service XPlace by 2025. This will involve around 280 apartments and seven family houses in the projects Lihovar Smíchov, in Krč on Habrovka, in Stodůlky, and in Milovice in the Nymburk region. The monthly rent will range from 15,000 to 55,000 crowns depending on the quality of the apartment, with commercial price rentals available to all interested parties. This was announced today by Linda Dolečková, the economist of the Archdiocese of Prague. The Archdiocese is also preparing to acquire another 135 apartments for nearly one billion crowns. Representatives of the Archdiocese did not provide details about this acquisition.

"Besides small apartments, which are the most effective in terms of profitability, XPlace also offers larger apartments, which can be offered, for example, to young families with children. While profitability per square meter is not as good since the advantage decreases with increasing size, client trust grows, and a good relationship is established,” said Dolečková.

According to her, the profitability from rentals will move between 3.5 and 4.5 percent after the completion of a larger number of apartments. However, the Archdiocese has not yet achieved these results due to higher initial costs and significant startup costs associated with the XPlace platform itself. The Catholic Church is currently seeking ways to secure its own financing. In 2043, state compensation payments for unreleased property from the comprehensive property settlement in 2013 will end. The Catholic Church has had property worth 75 billion crowns returned to it. Therefore, these are not apartments intended for church employees, priests, or social housing.

"The profit from rentals is fully allocated to support the main activities of the Archdiocese of Prague, namely spiritual service, support for church education, or at least basic maintenance of churches, as well as very important support for parishes. Social housing is the concern of our charities,” added the economist of the Archdiocese.

XPlace collaborates with developers such as Finep, Trigema, and VPP Group on the construction of apartments. Some apartments were acquired by the Archdiocese in exchange for lands that it could not utilize itself. In this way, it obtained 100 apartments in Zličín and Střížkov from the largest Czech residential developer, Central Group. According to Dolečková, the Archdiocese is currently looking for further opportunities for new projects within commuting distance from Prague, specifically in the Central Bohemia region around the towns of Kolín, Beroun, and Kladno.

The Archdiocese also operates 103 apartments on Jaselská Street in Dejvice. In one of them, former President Miloš Zeman set up an office. The apartment was rented by the association Friends of Miloš Zeman, which helped him return to politics after 2008 and later with his presidential campaign. The office of the Prague 6 municipal district investigated the operation of the office; the apartment is approved for residential use. According to the office, however, no offense was committed, and if only some visits in the apartment are work-related, a new approval for office use is not necessary.

XPlace is a platform owned by the Archdiocese of Prague that facilitates rental housing. The service organization currently has eight employees. The accounting closure is not expected until next year, as it currently does not meet the legal requirements for mandatory compilation. The Archdiocese of Prague made a profit of 213 million crowns for the year 2022. XPlace constitutes approximately ten percent of its active portfolio. The largest portion, around 40 percent, consisted of earnings from forests.