A mere 879 construction permits were issued in Prague in the first 11 months of 2016, according to data published by the Czech Statistic Office (ČSÚ). In the same period, 6,000 new flats were sold. Central Group warns that the permitting process is strangling the development of new flats, pushing residential prices up. The number of flats under construction fell 73 percent to 879 from 3,225 in 2015. Prices of newly built flats jumped 20 percent last year and secondary flats followed the trend. Prague’s share of newly started flats decreased from 55 to 18 percent y-o-y.
Developers are still building projects permitted in previous years, writes Central Group in a statement, and residential construction continues to be one of the main drivers of the whole construction sector, which dropped 2.3 percent y-o-y in November.
