Survey: Most children in the Czech Republic have their own room

Prague – More than two-thirds of children in the Czech Republic have their own room. If they share a room with a sibling, in most cases it is only with one. This is evident from a survey conducted for the roof window manufacturer Velux with 1,000 respondents. According to the authors of the survey, the Czech housing market is facing a trial by fire, as a strong generation of children known as the "Husák's children" is currently looking for housing. Already, approximately 16 percent of Czechs live in a house or apartment that is overcrowded.

In the survey, 68 percent of parents stated that each of their children has their own room, with only just under a third of children sharing space with siblings. Three or more children in one room live in five percent of cases. According to Ondřej Boreš from Velux, due to a lack of funds, children are leaving their parents' homes later than used to be the norm. The construction of new apartments is also being hampered by high housing costs, expensive rents, and slow building processes.

"Interest rates on mortgages have also fallen more slowly than expected, and at current levels, they are likely to remain for some time. Access to housing has worsened in recent years, especially for the younger generation. Last year, significant construction was practically only in Prague, Brno, and the surrounding areas of these two cities. On the other hand, the market has stabilized, and this year can be viewed with mild optimism; we believe in a gradual, albeit slow, recovery of apartment construction. Greater involvement of municipalities and the development of municipal rental apartments would help the market and young people," said Boreš.

In 2024, according to the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ), 30,311 apartments were completed in the Czech Republic, which is one-fifth fewer year-on-year. The volume of construction of family and apartment buildings has decreased. Construction began on 36,477 apartments, which, after a two-year decline, is 2.2 percent more year-on-year.

According to Velux, the deteriorated situation is also confirmed by the latest Eurostat data for 2023. It states that 15.9 percent of the population of the Czech Republic lives in an apartment or house that is overcrowded. A year earlier, the figure was 15.1 percent. After years of decline, there has been a change in trend, and the Czech market regarding overcrowding has returned to the level of 2017. However, the situation has been improving in the long term; ten years ago, more than one-fifth of people lived in overcrowded households.

On average in the European Union in 2023, 16.8 percent of people lived in overcrowded housing, unchanged year-on-year. The most overcrowded apartments were found in Eastern European countries. In Latvia, 49 percent of people lived in overcrowded housing, in Romania 40 percent, and in Bulgaria 35 percent. Conversely, the least overcrowded units per other household members were in Cyprus, Malta, and the Netherlands, where apartments and houses were overcrowded by approximately two to four percent. In Central Europe, Austrians were in a comparable situation to Czechs, and Germans were slightly better off. Conversely, Slovakia and Poland had apartments that were about twice as overcrowded.