Developers want to build thousands of apartments in Prague for billions of crowns

Prague - The largest development companies plan to build thousands of new apartments in Prague in the coming years, worth billions of crowns. They want to expand more into the city center rather than the outskirts, as indicated by the developers’ statements.
    A significant expansion is planned by Ekospol, for example. "We are preparing residential projects for the construction of 5000 apartments with a total value of around ten billion crowns, which we will bring to the market in the next five years," wrote CEO and Chairman of the Board of Ekospol, Evžen Korec, in the annual report for 2013, which the company published in the commercial register.
    All developers sold the same number, that is, five thousand apartments, in the capital city for the entire last year. Of these, 653 apartments were attributed to Ekospol, which expects to break the barrier of 700 sold apartments this year.
    The second of the two largest developers, Central Group, also wants to have a significant say in the Prague development market. The company of entrepreneur Dušan Kunovský recently informed about the purchase of land for 1900 apartments with a total value of 4.5 billion crowns.
    Central Group has hinted at a new trend - the return of apartment construction closer to the center of Prague. The developer categorizes seven of its residential projects into the broader center. In addition to Holešovice, Vysočany, and Smíchov, the return to the center is mainly evidenced by Central Group's flagship project - Garden Towers Residence in Žižkov, where seven hundred apartments worth two billion crowns will be built. The developer plans to start selling them this September.
    However, the company's CEO Kunovský has indicated that it will focus on new locations. "Central Group has purchased a record number of plots in the broader center of Prague this year and we are still negotiating other acquisitions," he stated some time ago.
    Developers' plans are supported by the growing interest in new apartments. In the first half of this year, developers sold 2850 new apartments in the capital, which is a year-on-year increase of one-fifth. In just the second quarter, sales increased year-on-year by 30 percent to 1500 apartments. Thus, it is the second strongest quarter since the beginning of 2009. Currently, there are 6600 new apartments on offer with a price value of 30 billion crowns.
    Interest in new apartments in Prague has been growing for more than a year. Last year, over 5000 buyers purchased a new apartment, while there were a thousand fewer the year before. The demand is supported by continuously falling mortgage interest rates and low prices for new apartments due to a recent sharp competitive price war among market leaders.