The second wave in full swing: What´s the situation like on the Czech real estate market?

Restrictive measures have an impact on everyday life and affect the real estate market too. In this article we´ll talk about the impact. We´ll deal with the situation from the position of the buyer, seller and landlord. I´m a specialist in the Prague market so the information is especially relevant for Prague. Let’s go.

We want to seal real estate

Apartment tours are now visited by a fraction of those interested compared to what we were used to in recent years. We can only speculate why it´s like that. Nevertheless, the apartments are still selling quite well. So the only difference compared to the past is that the buyer is looking for a little longer. Of course, this only applies if we set the price realistically. At a higher price, there is zero interest. On the contrary, at a lower price, there is still great interest today and we can sell quickly. It is more difficult nowadays to sell an apartment with a flaw, such as a basement or ground floor apartment, a busy place, poor layout and the like, where we usually have to decrease the price. In contrast, apartments that are of high quality in all aspects sell well. It´s worth considering whether it makes sense to sell today, we have discussed this topic in one of the previous articles.

The situation differs for houses and land, both in Prague and especially in the vicinity of Prague. Here the demand is significantly higher than in previous years. The reasons are quite clear. First, space is a valuable commodity nowadays and living in a house provides it. And then there is the boom of home office, some employees and employers expect to go to the office only occasionally, and so the obstacle in the form of commuting has disappeared and living in the countryside begins to make much more sense, particularly in times of closed restaurants, theatres and leisure activities. So the sale of land and of a house can be very fast nowadays.

We want to buy property

If you are looking for an apartment to buy in Prague today (don’t forget to study the instructions on how to look for a property to buy), you won´t have many more apartments to choose from than you had in recent years as the offer is constantly small. It´s possible that it will expand in the coming months but I wouldn´t expect a turning point change, the offer of apartments in Prague will remain limited and the search won´t be easy. Today you have the advantage that not too many people go for tours so if you come across a suitable apartment that the owner needs to sell in the near future, you have a better chance of success in negotiating the price down (I wrote instructions for you on how to negotiate the price down). Such a situation hasn´t been here for a long time and better times are coming for the buyer.

If you want to buy a plot of land or a house, you must take into account that it´s a very competitive situation as there are many other interested parties. Due to the current situation, having a garden and a spacious house is a dream of many families, and especially out of Prague locations can expect demand from well-off Praguers, therefore it is quite probable that prices will continue rising and thus we shouldn´t delay buying.

I need to rent out a flat

You´ll bear the biggest impact because of the current situation. I discussed the topic in great detail in this article. There are fewer people in Prague, and, what´s more, part of the population faces a loss of income. The demand for rental housing is really low and the offer of advertised rentals attacks the 10,000 level, the number of vacant advertised apartments was around 4,000 in spring.  This results in the decrease in rent that we are able to get from the tenant today. The situation is unlikely to improve over the next few months so it makes sense to lower the rent back to current market levels and wait for better times when the rental market returns to normal. We are losing quite a lot of money with each month of an empty apartment and it is preferable to rent out the apartment now for less than maybe in 3 months for a slightly higher amount.

I wish you a beautiful day and success, whether you rent, sell or want to buy a property.