ARTICLES LABELLED WITH TAG housing

Since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has experienced profound demographic and economic shifts. One of the most significant developments has been the increasing strategic importance of the country’s western regions—Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Zakarpattia—as safe havens for internally displaced persons (IDPs), as well as new focal points for business relocation and investment. The Ukrainian Real Estate Club has summarised the situation for Property Forum.

In 2024, 13,295 new dwellings were built, 29% fewer than in the previous year. The number of dwellings built on the basis of building permits and simple declarations issued was 20,494, 4.7% fewer than in 2023.

In 2023, 18,647 new dwellings were built, 9.2% fewer than a year earlier. The number of dwellings to be built under construction permits and simple declarations issued was 21,501, 39% fewer than in 2022, Hungary’s Central Statistical Office reports.

Slovenia is currently grappling with a pressing need for affordable rental housing as demand continues to outpace available supply. Thus, the Minister for Solidarity and the Future, Simon Maljevac, has unveiled an ambitious public policy plan aimed at constructing additional housing units. Dr Aleš Pustovrh, the EECFA’s Slovenian researcher,  has delved into the key components of the government's strategy, examining the challenges it faces and the potential impact on the housing landscape in Slovenia.

Marek Blaha, Head of affordable housing developer Dostupné bydlení České spořitelny, talked to Property Forum about the necessity of expanding the overall availability of housing in the Czech Republic. According to him, one of the strategies to solve such a problem could lie in augmenting the proportion of rental housing and this could be supported by the cooperation of banks, municipalities and developers.

One of the first private-sector affordable housing projects in the Czech Republic, Opatov II with 300 flats in Prague 11 by developer Sekyra Group, has reportedly been sold. The transaction has not yet been announced by the buying parties, but credible sources have confirmed it. The transaction was also confirmed by an advisor to the selling party. According to the information available, part of the flats are to be acquired by the insurance company Kooperativa from the Vienna Insurance Group and part should be bought by Dostupné bydlení České spořitelny (subsidiary of Česká spořitelna bank) as the company's second housing project in Prague. The transaction amount has also not yet been disclosed.

The Czech government has approved the provision of CZK 800 million (€34.27 million) to a programme to support the construction of rental housing. Most of the money will be allocated to municipalities, but private investors who build apartments in cooperation with the municipality can also receive a part of it. Deputy Prime Minister and Regional Development Minister Ivan Bartoš (Pirates) told to čtk.

High inflation brings something that has not been seen in Czechia for a long time - a halt in the growth of residential property prices, especially flats. Prices of older flats are even falling. Frozen demand will soon hit construction companies. The housing market has slowed down considerably, and players are waiting for further economic development, says David Frič from STEM/MARK (the Euroconstruct member institute in Czechia).

Over the next 10 years, development group Creditas Real Estate plans to invest €1.151 billion in residential construction in the Czech Republic. It wants to build up to 5,500 apartments, of which 1,000 should be for rental housing. The company's CEO Jiří Vajner informed journalists about this.

Continuously rising housing prices across Croatia, additionally amplified by the country’s recent entry into Eurozone and the Schengen area, have provoked discussions about affordable housing and models that can be applied in Croatia, based on the experience of other countries in the CEE region. Erste Group Bank, one of the leading financial institutions in CEE, became a potential forerunner in setting up an affordable housing concept in Croatia, however, the project is yet to commence and still strongly depends on cooperation with local governments, which are often lacking flexibility or avoiding a tighter and highly publicized joint ventures with the private sector.