Crisis on the housing market. Young Czechs are becoming more and more frustrated
Today, the young couple has a 1.5-year-old son. Initially, they simply wanted to partition the bedroom in their 1+1 apartment and separate the children's room from it, but eventually they chose a more creative solution: there is a kitchen, living room in one room, Nikola's bedroom and son's bedroom in one, and the father's bedroom and office in the other. — My husband works from home in the IT industry, often at night, so we have to sleep separately, explains the woman.
Nikola and her husband are a wealthy couple with higher education. Their story shows that the compromises associated with a small apartment are no longer just a matter of necessity or the first apartment, but increasingly also concern people who have a stable income and a family.
This was experienced in a more extreme form by Jolana Hrselova and Matej Samal, who moved with their three children to a 37.5 square meter apartment in the Dejvice district that they could afford. However, the transition from renting to a much smaller ownership apartment would not have been so successful if it were not for the modifications that adapted the small apartment space so that the family could fit.
Less for more
Today, for the same or even higher price, you can buy a smaller apartment this year than you would have bought a year ago. According to CEEC Research, a construction market research company, as much as 75 percent Czech developers confirms that newly built apartments are becoming smaller. Currently, apartments with an area of 40-50 sq m are most sought after due to constantly rising prices and weakened purchasing power – explains Michal Vacek, director of CEEC Research.
Especially in Prague and Brno, there is a boom in studio apartments, the so-called micro-apartments with an area of approx. 16-25 sq m, but also for former hotel rooms or dormitories converted into small apartments. The Natland investment group intends to rebuild a former student residence in the Hostivar district of Prague into small apartments. However, a similar project is also being prepared in Ostrava, where real estate prices per square meter are approximately half of those in Prague, and Ostrava remains one of the most accessible provincial cities. At the same time, over the last 10 years, apartment prices there have increased the most – as much as fivefold.
A new residential facility is to be built on the site of the infamous Hlubina shelter. The owner plans to evict the shelter's residents who are in a difficult social situation this year and rebuild them into “modern apartments”.
However, sociologist Jana Zavodska from Masaryk University, who deals with the housing issue of young people, points out that in addition to rising prices, the fact that housing space is reduced also plays a role owners simply earn more in smaller apartments — per square meter, they are the most expensive. – Developers do not focus on apartments for people, but on investments – sums up the expert. In turn, smaller private owners often divide larger residential premises into several smaller apartments.
Who is being built for today?
Despite the trend of decreasing space, the number of square meters per person in the Czech Republic increased from 30.1 square meters in 2005 to 37.2 square meters in 2024. However, this is also due to increase in the number of single people and one-person households. Zavodska mentions that compared to the rest of the world, Czechs still do well when it comes to living space. At the same time, he points out that this indicator, like the average salary, is partly misleading – some people with above-average housing conditions significantly improve the overall picture of the situation.
The issue of increasingly smaller apartments is therefore particularly urgent at a time when the Czech Republic is struggling with… record low birth rate. Zavodska points out that the impact of apartment size on reproductive plans is not revealed in research, but the general unavailability of apartments and uncertain rental relationships, which in the Czech Republic are poorly regulated and therefore unstable, force young people to postpone the so-called going through – moving away from your parents or just starting a family. So it's not a simple equation: “smaller apartment = fewer children.” Rather, housing becomes one of the uncertainties that make people postpone important life steps.
The fact that a young family initially lives in a small space that does not suit them, for example in the family home, was also common in the past. Sociologist Tomas Horení Samec from the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Brno reminds that during the post-war housing crisis in Czechoslovakia, in addition to standard apartments, also the so-called apartments for young people – small premises for young, childless workers. However, due to the lack of housing, people started families even in these uncomfortable spaces and only gradually found suitable accommodation.
— Currently, the assumption that the apartment is too small is just that a temporary solutionis no longer valid for an increasing number of households. A small apartment no longer has to be just a “stopover” on the way to a suitable apartment or house – explains the expert.
Compromises
Nikola Pradhanova and her husband do not change their family plans because of a smaller apartment. They want another child and believe they can cope with the four of them in a small space — at least until the kids start school. In the future, however, they want to move to Central Bohemia, closer to Nikola's family, where they may have more space.
Nikola was initially afraid of living in two rooms with a child, because she grew up in a spacious house, but eventually she also saw the advantages – no need to store unnecessary things and relatively quick cleaning. — It requires many compromises, every centimeter in the apartment is used, and many pieces of furniture are multifunctional. But this forced minimalism finally suits me. Parents who have a lot of space at home have lots of unnecessary things – says.
Tomas Horeni Samec reminds that the current situation on the housing market confronts people with the idea of continuous improvement of living conditions – in this case, expanding the living space. — The question arises whether this situation is not also an opportunity to consider more flexible use of space. I don't mean that we will all live in the same room again. However, innovations in construction are a possibility, which would allow for variable apartment layouts or easier sharing of common spaces – in different phases of an individual's and family's life, the requirements for space and its nature are different, he says.
One thing is certain: until the housing crisis is resolved, the situation will continue to worsen, and a housing that people can afford will decrease. However, in the Czech Republic, 75 percent people are still classified as property owners, so political representatives have little incentive to address the situation of those most affected by housing unaffordability.
At the same time, the group of tenants and people affected by housing prices is growing. According to Samec, the politicians' approach that providing affordable housing is too difficult a task may be short-sighted. — It is possible that the group of people who would need support in securing housing will not only be larger, but also more frustrated because housing is basic human need – explains the expert.
