Flat prices in paneláks, prefabricated panel housing blocks, jumped on average by 21 percent on the Czech market over the past two years, according to cenovamapa.org. Prices in newly built flats, by comparison, grew 14.3 percent. Milan Roček, the founder of cenovamapa.org, told Hospodářské noviny that residential prices are growing not only in Prague, but also in the regional cities. Prices could return to their pre-crisis 2008 levels in two to four years. Dominik Ženatý, director of Century 21 Doma in Brno, warns, however, that prices of flats in paneláks are soaring because of the general lack of new flats on the market. “This reduces the healthy difference between paneláks, brick houses and new-builds, because people are willing to buy anything,” he says.
