The Czech capital Prague was the most expensive city in Central Europe in 2011 to buy residential property with the average price at € 2,500 per square meter, with price levels comparable to Berlin, according to a new study by international consultancy Deloitte.
“In the Czech Republic, similarly to the Netherlands and Great Britain, more than seven annual gross salaries are needed to buy a new dwelling,” Deloitte said in its study of 12 European countries between 2010 and 2011. “At the same time, Prague is among the few European cities where the prices of new residential real estate exceed the national average more than twice.”
In Frankfurt and Hamburg, the price of a new dwelling is two-and-a-half times as high as in the rest of Germany, the consultancy said. ‘At the same time, Prague is among the few European cities where the prices of new residential real estate exceed the national average more than twice.’
The comparison of the overall size of the housing stock shows that the lowest housing stock of all monitored countries was in Poland in 2011 (26% below the EU average). On the other hand, the highest number of dwellings per 1,000 inhabitants was found in Spain in 2011 (17% above the EU average) and France (12% above the EU average).
“This specificity is mainly due to the existence of developed markets for second and third houses (intended for recreation),” Deloitte said.
Diana Rádl Rogerová, Partner at Deloitte in charge of Central European Real Estate, said the year-on-year changes in residential real estate prices differed significantly in the compared countries. “The highest price growth was seen in France, followed by Germany and Austria. Contrarily, the significant price drop was seen in Hungary (-23.5%) and Spain (-5.6%),” she said in a press release.
The study shows that Paris was the most expensive capital in Europe of all analyzed cities with an average price for a new dwelling exceeding € 8,000 /m2 in 2011. The cheapest residential real estate could be found in Budapest, Hungary, where the average price of residential real estate was € 940 /m2 last year.
The highest housing costs of the monitored countries in 2011 were found in Denmark and France. The total housing costs in these countries exceeded the EU average by 70% and 41%, respectively, according to Deloitte.
