Average housing rents in the Czech capital increased by nearly 50 percent over the past five years, according to an analysis by Deloitte, commissioned by Prague City Council. The average year-on-year rate of growth was 7.3 percent.

Photo: Jipido82, Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0

An average rent per square metre increased by 94 crowns since mid-2014 to 307 crowns. That means a 60-square metre apartment in the city rents for around 18,500 crowns. People living on the outskirts of Prague currently pay as much as people in the centre did five years ago.

Districts in the city centre, including Josefov, Malá Strana, Staré Město and Nové Město, are most expensive in terms of rent, with an average price per square metre hovering around 400 crowns.

Housing rent in the districts on the outskirts of the city, such as Šeberov, Benice and Kolovraty is about 50 percent lower.

According to the Deloitte analysis, prices of housing rents in given areas are affected by a number of factors, including the availability of jobs or parks in the area.

One of the main factors behind the steep increase of Prague rents is the long-term growth of apartment prices.

Rents in the capital are also affected by Airnb and other services offering short-term accommodation. Between 2016 and 2017, about one third of all newly built flats in Prague were sold for the purpose of short-term renting.

Prague City Council has been facing a housing shortage as well as increasing housing prices for several years now. According to the country’s leading developers, including Trigema, Skanska Reality and Central Group, the growth of apartment prices accelerated to 11.5 percent at the end of September.

The average price per square metre increased by 4.6 percent compared to the previous quarter to 106, 713 crowns.

Prague City Council has been considering various measures to tackle the housing crisis, such as speeding up the issuing of zoning and planning permits and putting a halt to privatising city-owned apartments.