ESG can lead to a fundamental transformation of today’s business environment but for that to happen the approach of both landlords and tenants must change, according to the participants of the ESG panel at Prague Property Forum 2022.

The Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic has decided on a one-year postponement of the effectiveness of part of the Construction Act. Instead of the planned central construction office, which the previous government of Andrej Babiš wanted, they are preparing the digitalisation of the process, the Czech Press Agency reports.

Prague 3 has spoken out against a development project planned by the developer UDI Group in Žižkov. The town hall is bothered by the size of the project. The developer accuses the authority of arbitrariness and threatens to sue. Martin Roman, an ex-CEZ Group boss, has a stake in the project, writes seznamzpravy.cz.

Passerinvest Group is starting the construction of a new seven-storey office building in Prague 4. The Roztyly Plaza building close to the bus terminal and metro station is to be completed in 2024, the developer announced.

The average price of an older apartment in the Czech Republic exceeded CZK 90,000 per sqm for the first time in Q1 2022, according to a study by the real estate group European Housing Services (EHS). In Prague, an older apartment costs more than 120,000 per sqm and in Brno, it is over 90,000. Rents have returned to prices before the coronavirus crisis, the Czech News Agency quotes the EHS report.

The beginning of Q1 2022 has brought record numbers. €898 million was invested into Czech real estate assets in Q1 2022, demonstrating a 210% year-on-year increase. Without the c. €1.3 billion Residomo transaction which was closed in Q1 2020, this quarter's investment volume would be the highest since Q1 2019, Savills' latest research shows.

Work has been underway for more than ten years on a major planning document for Prague - the new zoning plan. Its elaboration has cost the capital city CZK 135 million so far, while the assessment and elaboration of changes cost CZK 181 million. According to the city's statistics, 367 amendments are submitted annually, a number that the new metropolitan plan should significantly reduce. The new plan is also expected to unlock up to 15 areas where there is currently a building closure. If the metropolitan plan is approved as proposed, it could begin to take effect as early as 2023 and could unlock the construction of up to 150,000 new flats. The public now has 66 days to comment on the plan, local daily E15.cz reports.

Hundreds of flats are to be built in Prague by RSBC Group. The company wants to implement a CZK 1 billion project in Prague's Vysočany district to convert an old vacuum cleaner factory into 243 apartments. RSBC is going into the project with developer Masák & Partner, online daily E15.cz reports.

Passerinvest Group a.s. has entered into an off-market agreement with the investor Simona Otavova for the purchase of the building housing the general headquarters of the state-funded organization Road and Motorway Directorate of the Czech Republic (Ředitelství silnic a dálnic ČR – ŘSD). The value of the transaction was not disclosed. The change of ownership was announced today by Passerinvest.

According to the land registry, Microsoft has acquired a large seven-hectare plot of land in Prague's Klíčov district from CPI Property Group. The price of the transaction is CZK 1.5 billion, according to the purchase contract filed with the land registry, reports Seznamzpravy.cz.