High housing costs and affordability issues are prevalent in Prague, comparing it to Warsaw and other European cities like Florence and Budapest.
🔗 Read the article on wyborcza.pl
[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]
Buying an apartment in Prague requires significant capital; for example, a two-room flat outside the center costs 1.2 million PLN, with prices generally around 20,000 PLN per square meter outside the core. In more prestigious areas of Prague, prices range from 25,000 to 30,000 PLN per square meter, which is higher than the average price in Warsaw (around 16,000 PLN per square meter), despite lower average salaries in the Czech Republic compared to Poland. Many apartments remain unsold or for rent in Prague due to a large number of vacant properties held by investors. Rent is also expensive; half of renters in the Czech Republic spend at least 40% of their income on rent, double the EU average, and rents have increased by half over five years while wages rose by an average of 21%. High housing costs are also seen in other European cities, such as Florence. Attempts to reduce vacancies, like a proposed vacant property tax in Prague, were quickly abandoned. The Czech Republic is noted for being one of the least affordable countries for homeownership, requiring buyers to save the equivalent of over thirteen years’ gross salary on average. In contrast, Hungary has a large number of vacant apartments due to low borrowing capacity and high inflation eroding renters’ budgets. To stimulate the market and improve demographics, the Hungarian government introduced subsidies for mortgage loans, particularly benefiting married couples planning to have children, with the stated goal of increasing fertility rates.
