The sale price of a flat in Prague and the regional Czech capitals increased on average by 10.1 percent year-on-year at the end of the third quarter of 2018 to 56,800 per square metre, according to a study by the consultancy Deloitte.

Photo: Jiří Němec

In Prague, which accounted for about two-thirds of the total volume of sales, the average cost per square metre rose to 76,500 crowns, an increase of 6.5% year-on-year. The most expensive flats were in Prague 1 (150,300 crowns per sqm) and Prague 2 (107,000 crowns per sqm). The cheapest were in Prague 9 (69,600 crowns per sqm) and Prague 10 (71,200 crowns per sqm).

In the second-largest city, Brno, the average flat sold for about 55,800 crowns per sqm, while in the Central Bohemian region it reached 47,100 crowns per sqm and in Olomouc rose to 40,200 crowns per sqm.

The cheapest regions to buy a residential flat is in the heart of northern Bohemian, Ústí nad Labem (15,300 crowns per sqm), followed by the northeast Moravian region of Ostrava (22,200 crowns per sqm), home to a large share of industry, and Karlovy Vary (26,500 crowns per sqm), near the German border.

According to Deloitte, Czechs have to save for new housing the longest of any European nations, taking 11.3 average annual salaries to buy a new 70 sqm flat, up from 10.9 in 2017. By comparison, in the UK – where real estate is the most expensive in Europe – it would take 9.8 average annual salaries, in France (8) and in neighbouring Poland (7.5).

In the third quarter, approximately 6,502 dwellings sold in the Czech Republic were development projects, brick and panel houses, for a total of 22.8 billion crowns. The value thus increased 6 percent year-on-year while the number sold dropped by 1.4 percent.

Prices of apartments in development projects grew by 14.3% on average to 67,300 crowns per sqm on average. Flats in brick houses grew by 9.2 percent to 57,100 crowns per sqm. In panel houses, the price of flats rose by 8 percent to 44,400 crowns per sqm.