The availability of housing in Prague has slightly improved this year, but it is still incomparably worse than in the surrounding metropolises. The inhabitants of Prague have to work 13.9 years for an average 70 sqm apartment. In Vienna, for example, such a purchase only cost 8.7 annual salaries. Compared to last year, a slight improvement was registered in 2020, but the effect of the coronavirus crisis has not yet been reflected in wage statistics, according to Czech residential developer Central Group.

Generali Real Estate S.p.A. has completed the acquisition of International Business Centre (IBC), an office building in Prague, from Mint Investments, on behalf of the pan-European “Generali Real Estate Core Plus” fund managed by Generali Real Estate S.p.A Società di gestione del risparmio.

The Flow Building, Flow East’s development on Wenceslas Square, has become the first building in the Czech Republic to achieve a BREEAM “Outstanding” rating – the highest possible rating – under the latest assessment scheme version.

Seven experts discussed investment and financing strategies for the new normal at the online edition of Prague Property Forum 2020. How has the investment market changed in the last 6-8 months? What major changes have been observed in investment and financing preferences? We summarised the highlights of the discussion, moderated by Luke Dawson (Colliers International).

According to the latest Savills research, Prague’s office real estate market is fairly priced despite some minor outward prime yield movement during the first half of the year. This broader continent-wide outward yield movement has helped push the average yield spread between prime European offices and Eurozone government bonds to 325 basis points, more than 100 bps above the historic average.

The impacts of COVID-19 are becoming visible on Prague’s office market with a rapid decrease of net demand and the postponement of several completions of new office projects. At the same time, the share of sublease deals within the total take-up increased from around 1% in previous quarters to 7%. The Prague Research Forum announced the office market figures for the third quarter of 2020.

Immofinanz has appointed Savills as sole property manager for its portfolio of seven office buildings in Prague, Czech Republic, with effect from January 2021. The total floor area of the assets is approximately 123,000 sqm.

Local developer Sekyra Group has acquired the Stýblův dům townhouse on Wenceslas Square in Prague for around €16.6 million (CZK 450 million). The company is planning to invest €31.3 million (CZK 850 million) in restoring the building.

Generali Real Estate’s Core+ Fund has acquired the IBC office building in Prague’s Karlín neighbourhood from local investor Mint Investments for €70.2 million (CZK 1.9 billion). Wilsons provided legal advice for the seller during the transaction.

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank and Helaba have jointly underwritten an investment facility, totalling €107.5 million, to refinance Futurama Business Park located in Prague for Caerus Investment Management on behalf of a separate account client. pbb and Helaba, acting as Joint Lead Arrangers, provided equal portions of the funding. pbb also acted as facility and security agent of the transaction.