According to Czech real estate agency AAAByty.cz, the country’s apartment rental prices have stagnated in the majority of the country's regions as Czechs are increasingly able to purchase their own homes, Interfax reported. "Rental prices for non-renovated apartments, oversize and luxury apartments have decreased by up to 10 percent year-on-year (y/y)," AAAByty.cz Director Petr Illetsko said in a statement, adding that rental prices for cheap and smaller apartments – the most in demand – rose by 2.6 percent y/y.

Renting out family houses for more than 20,000 crowns monthly is difficult, Illetsko said, adding that Prague and its suburbs have for several years seen a decline in rental prices, particularly in the luxury segment, where the prices decreased by 10 percent. At the same time, prices of cheaper and smaller apartments are stagnating, leaving mainly only those who cannot afford or secure a mortgage in the rental market.

Good quality, refurbished small apartments are offered for around 10,000 crowns per month within the Prague center, 8,000 crowns outside the centre, and 7,000 crowns for apartments in pre-fabricated concrete apartment blocs known as "panelaks." Quality apartments in Czech city centres and classic brick and mortar apartment houses in good locations are more attractive to clients, according to AAAByty.cz, while those with poor access to public transportation and in panelaks, generally not renovated, are more difficult to rent. According to AAAByty.cz, which has a network of about 15 branches in the country and one in the Slovak capital Bratislava, rental prices are stagnating in most of the Czech Republic's regions.

In Brno, the Czech Republic's second-largest city and regional South Moravian capital where rents are holding steady, rental prices range between 5,000 crowns for the smallest apartments to 13,000 crowns monthly. Rental prices increased by 10-20 percent only in the Ostrava region, North Moravia, home to South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor's new one billion Euro plant, and in the Usti nad Labem region, in North Bohemia, by up to 20 percent – but only in case of smaller apartments. In contrast, rental prices decreased by five to eight percent in the Plzen region, West Bohemia, according to AAAByty.cz.

Source: New Europe