Holiday home prices in Czechia rise by a third as Czechs seek to escape quarantine risk
Prices of holiday homes have risen by a third over the past year, Czech Television reported on Thursday. Realtors believe that this is in part due to people searching for a country retreat amid fears of a return to quarantine.
Holiday homes, mainly the so-called “chalupy” (country houses) and their smaller equivalent “chaty” (weekend homes in nature), have been highly sought after since the coronavirus epidemic broke out in the Czech Republic last year.
According to data gathered from cadastral offices, the most sought after region in this respect is the Northern Bohemian area around the city of Liberec, where an average country home costs around CZK 2.2 million. However, the highest number of properties sold has been registered in the Central Bohemian Region, with nearly a thousand houses being bought since the beginning of March this year.
Significant interest among buyers has been registered in the landscape park known as Bohemian Paradise (Český ráj), which is also located in the north of the country. Jana Sedláčková from the company M&M Reality told Czech Television that there is very little left on offer for prospective clients, with even ruins that previously cost around half-a-million crowns now selling at three times that value.
Similar housing is also sought after in mountainous regions, such as Harrachov, Vysoké nad Jizerou and Bedřichov which feature recreational opportunities in the form of skiing facilities. The average price of a house in the Giant Mountains (Krkonoše) region, home to the most popular skiing destination in Czechia, lay at around CZK 5 million crowns this spring.
Meanwhile, the cheapest recreational homes are currently to be found in the Pardubice Region, where the price of a weekend home ranges around CZK 680,000 on average. Among ski resorts, the Ore Mountain Range (Krušné hory) area in the Ustí nad Labem region currently has the cheapest weekend home prices.
A single real estate ad gets dozens of replies and the house is sold within just a few days, RE/MAX realtor Milan Vršecký told Czech Television. Clients tend to prefer quiet locations, near woods, meadows or ponds, he said.
Realtors told Czech Television that it is not just holiday homes, but all properties that have seen a rise in price since the autumn of 2020.
