The Institute of Planning and Development City of Prague (IPR) has completed a new study dedicated to the state and development of the number of municipal apartments in Prague. 29,841 apartments are currently owned by the capital city and its districts.
Although this is almost 2% less than in 2021, the rate of decline has slowed significantly compared to the past. The goal of Prague is to increase the number of city apartments. Of the total number of apartments in the capital, only 4.3% are municipal. Between 2021 and 2023, 169 new units were added to the municipal housing stock, of which 131 apartments were newly built by city districts.
"The need to increase the number of urban apartments is based on a trend common to most of Europe. In other words, getting one's apartment is increasingly difficult, which also results from another analysis – Prague in the European context. And as is known, this situation is extremely complicated in the capital of the Czech Republic, similar to, for example, Amsterdam or Barcelona. The solution is rental housing, that is why Prague wants to focus on its support," says Bohuslav Svoboda, the Mayor of of Prague.
"Some time ago, we outlined three basic pillars of how to solve the housing affordability crisis in Prague. We founded the Prague Development Company, which is already working on the construction of 8,000 apartments owned by the city. It is also important to coordinate plans within the framework of changes to the City Master Plan – there are roughly 140,000 apartments in the 23 largest changes. The Methodology of Investor Participation in the Development of the Capital City of Prague is also important, which, in addition to securing land for public amenities, also provides for the transfer of new apartments to the ownership of the city and city districts," explains Petr Hlaváček, Deputy Mayor of the City of Prague for Territorial and Strategic Development.
The analysis also shows that three-quarters of municipal apartments are managed by city districts and a quarter by the City Hall. Apartments managed by the municipality are renovated more and at the same time do not remain vacant as much. The municipality also shows a higher awareness of the reasons and needs based on which the tenant uses the apartment.
"In the previous thirteen years, the municipal housing fund decreased by more than half. However, this trend has already stopped and the housing stock is gradually increasing again. Either through constructing new houses or purchasing already built apartment buildings that would be suitable as rental apartments for the people of Prague. We are finishing the reconstruction of the former Hotel Opatov, where 272 housing units will be added, we are reconstructing Baťův dům in Moskevská, where 10 apartments will be created and another 150 units will be added in the Skloněná Complex," says Alexandra Udženija, the Social affairs, housing and healthcare Deputy Mayor of the City of Prague.
Both for apartments managed by the city and those managed by the city districts, one of the natural roles of the municipal housing fund is to provide affordable housing to socially weaker residents (10.8%), seniors (9%) or key professions such as teachers, firefighters or nurses (10.2%). The distribution of individual municipal flats in Prague is relatively uneven and does not have much to do with the location of the city centre or the purpose of use. The largest number of city apartments are located in Prague 10, 14 and 2.
