A widening gap between supply and demand on the Prague residential market may push prices up, according to the Czech developer Central Group. The company points to the data compiled by the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ), indicating that volume of flats sold last year was 40 percent higher than the number of residential construction starts: 6,500 new flats were sold in 2015, but work began on just 3,949 new units. The volume of sales rose 15 percent in 2015, and further growth of 10 percent (to 7,200) is expected in 2016. Central Group claims the slow permitting process is causing the bottleneck.
