Český Bydlení SICAV, a.s. announces its 2022 results, which were once again record-breaking. The Fund achieved an appreciation of 9.72% p.a., up 2% from 7.72% in 2021. Thanks to new acquisitions, the Fund expanded its real estate portfolio to a record value of over CZK 368 million, an increase of 119% year-on-year. In the past year, the Fund, which primarily focuses on the Czech regions, entered the Slovak market and also made its first acquisition of an apartment building in Prague.
Jakub Kořínek, co-founder of the Czech Housing Fund, comments, “2022 marks the end of the fifth year of our Fund’s existence. We are pleased that our unique investment strategy has proven over the years to be not only viable in terms of returns, but also attractive to more and more investors and distribution partners. Investors who have been with our Fund from the very beginning have already achieved an appreciation of 38.1%, significantly outperforming the existing inflation rate.”
The Fund’s successful year is supported by the current market situation, where the Czech owner-occupied housing market experienced a significant cooling in 2022, resulting in a sharp decline in sales and overall demand for the purchase of apartments and single-family homes. On the contrary, rents continue to rise, in some regions even at double-digit levels exceeding inflation.
“Increased investor interest has also been reflected in the number of new Fund shares issued, which has almost tripled compared to 2021. Another goal we achieved in the past year was to more than double the Fund’s assets, which reached $350 million. CZK 350 million. Next year, we will again look for yield-interesting apartment buildings in cities with a good socio-economic structure and a developed rental housing market,” says Petr Illetško, the Fund’s Executive Director, on the fulfilled plans.
“The fact that the rental housing market is growing at the expense of owner-occupied housing is confirmed by a number of developers who have launched build-to-rent projects. Another indicator confirming the strengthening trend of rental housing is the rate of rental price growth, which has outpaced the rate of property price growth. According to the Deloitte Rent Index, the average annual growth of rental prices in regional cities reached 9.1%,” concludes David Fogad, Sales Director of the Czech Housing Fund.
