In recent years, developers sell the most apartments in December

Prague - Over the past three years, the trend in apartment buying has changed. While demand peaked in the spring from April to June in the past, now December is the peak month. This was confirmed to ČTK by most large development companies that cover a significant part of the market in Prague.

"In the last three years, sales of new apartments and family houses have increased in the last month of the year. This year, we also expect to exceed the ten percent mark of total annual sales. A phenomenon during this period is the purchase of residential units for investment," said Tomáš Pardubický, CEO of Finep.

He sees the main reasons as economic growth, mortgage rates at historical lows, and people's willingness to spend. "After the crisis subsides, we are seeing an increase in interest in purchasing apartments or houses from Czechs who have been working abroad and return home for the holidays. They perceive buying property as a favorable financial investment. The yield can be up to five percent above the inflation rate," Pardubický added. Last December, Finep sold 53 apartments, which accounted for 11.3% of the total for the whole year (471). More than 70 percent of December sales came in the second half of the month.

Central Group has a similar experience. This year, at the end of the year, it is also experiencing increased demand and expects to exceed the threshold of a thousand sold apartments. "The last quarter of the year is traditionally the strongest period for apartment sales. Developers usually release the largest part of their new offers in the autumn," said Central Group spokesperson Marcela Fialková. "In previous years, this trend was additionally supported by tax chaos and recurring changes in VAT just before the end of the year. Uncertainties regarding the new VAT rate and fears of unnecessary sudden price increases led buyers to try to purchase and pay for apartments before the end of the year with the original tax rate," Fialková added.

"The last quarter, especially December, is among the most successful selling periods of the entire year. This trend has been prevailing since 2012. We are also seeing higher interest in apartments this year. In the previous period, characterized by the impacts of the real estate crisis, this fact was not as pronounced," said Trigema spokesperson Radek Polák.

For Skanska Reality, December is also a relatively strong sales month, although not the strongest. "The reason is that sales last only three weeks due to the Christmas holidays. Currently, customers' purchases in December are stimulated primarily by rising prices of new properties and persistently low mortgage interest rates," said Naďa Ptáčková, CEO of Skanska Reality. According to her, some clients are trying to expedite their purchases due to the upcoming holidays.

Ekospol has the opposite experience. "The strongest period for us in terms of apartment sales is from April to June and from September to November. However, December is, at least according to our statistics, a slowdown," said Ekospol CEO Evžen Korec. However, he admitted that this year the slowdown may not be significant. "At the end of the year, interest in mortgages usually declines, but this year that regular drop has not occurred. It seems that new housing will be part of Christmas gifts in many families this year. We also feel a strong demand from clients, as a large number of interested parties contact us every day," Korec added.