Almost four-fifths of Czechs live on their own, and the remaining fifth would also like to fulfill this dream. However, the financial situation allows only less than a third of Czech households that do not yet live in their own home. Although it may seem small, according to them, paradoxically, more Czechs will reach their own house or apartment than three years ago. The coronavirus pandemic did not change that either. This follows from a survey conducted for the largest digital real estate service Bezrealitky on the Instant Research platform of the research agency IPSOS on a sample of 550 respondents.
In three years, a lot has happened on the Czech housing market. While the average wage increased by 27%, the average price of Czech real estate offered for sale increased by as much as 63%. At first glance, everything indicates that the opportunity to buy their own housing is moving away from the Czechs. Nevertheless, according to his own words, today he can afford three quarters of Czechs more than three years back to buy real estate. While at the beginning of 2018 it was 18%, today it is already 32% of the respondents.
Only the bare minimum of them can do so only with the help of household savings. They can only pay a fraction of the necessary amount from their own resources. 51% of them have an amount of up to one million crowns ready, while about a quarter will provide savings in the household from one to two million. 18% mention that they have the option to pay two to four million.
Respondents between the ages of 27 and 35 see the way to their own housing by far the least complicated – as many as 45% of this group of respondents can buy their own housing. Similarly, respondents between the ages of 36 and 44 are a decade older. The research also shows significant differences between people with basic education or training on the one hand and secondary education with a high school diploma and a university degree on the other.
Another finding is also interesting – almost 57% of Czechs agree that the coronavirus crisis did not affect their housing plans. For example, the purchase of real estate was postponed by only 7% of respondents.
“Optimism growing despite rising prices may seem surprising. However, Czechs have had the biggest savings since 1997, and despite the problems associated with coronavirus, most of them are better off with money than before. At the same time, mortgages are no longer available. In the light of these findings, the growing number of Czechs who, in their own opinion, can afford housing is understandable, ”says Hendrik Meyer, CEO of Bezrealitka. At the same time, however, he warns that this situation may not last forever. “Mortgages are at their minimum today and the settlement of companies with the metalwork awaits us only in the coming months. At the same time, real estate prices will not stop rising.”
This is perhaps the reason why more and more Czechs think that their children will not have such opportunities in buying real estate. While in 2018, two thirds of Czechs assumed that their children would have no problem buying their own housing, today less than 60% of respondents are convinced of this.
“However, the question is to what extent life will be in its own standard for the next generation. Especially in large cities, the demand for rental housing is rising. In the last four years alone, half as many people in the Czech Republic have rented, ”concludes Meyer.
Best in Prague and Olomouc, worst in the Highlands
By far the most optimistic are the possibility to buy their own housing in Olomouc – according to them, 42% of local households have this option. 41% of Praguers see this in the same way, despite the fact that housing prices in the capital are among the highest in the entire country. At 37.5%, the inhabitants of the Pardubice Region are still above the average. At the opposite end of the scale, well below average, is Vysočina. As many as 84.5% of respondents cannot buy their own housing here.
