Czechia rent growth slows, but a quarter of tenants can't cope

Rent growth in Czechia has slowed markedly: according to Sreality.cz, apartment rents in Prague, Brno and Ostrava are rising far more slowly this autumn than a year ago. But the long run of increases has already hit household budgets hard: a quarter of tenants say they could not afford another rise.

Survey: who is already struggling

According to a survey by Generali Investments CEE, rents have gone up for almost half of tenants over the past year. A quarter of respondents say they could not afford any further increase at all, and another third could cope with a rise of no more than 1,000 CZK a month.

The share of rental housing in the country keeps growing. According to Eurostat, a quarter of households, almost 1.3 million, now live in rented homes. The EU average is higher, at around a third.

“The problem is no longer just how much rent costs, but that households have nowhere left to retreat when prices rise again,” says Marek Bečička, head of real assets at Generali Investments CEE. According to the survey, one in seven tenants has moved to a smaller apartment over the past three years because of rising costs.

In addition, a quarter of tenants worry that they will not have enough money to pay for housing in the future. Six percent of respondents admit that they already have trouble making payments.

Rising arrears among tenants

Data from the Rental Housing Association also point to financial strain. The share of defaulting tenants among clients of its members, meaning large landlords, rose in the second quarter to 2.8 percent, up 0.4 percentage points from a year earlier. Tenants are counted as defaulting if they owe more than 1,000 CZK for longer than 30 days. The association links the jump to additional payments following the annual utility bill reconciliation and calls it short-term.

“The annual reconciliation period, when underpayments come to light, can be financially difficult for some households. Those who did not expect to pay extra and lack sufficient reserves can be caught off guard,” explains the association's president, Jakub Vysocký.

Prices in Prague, Brno and Ostrava

The data confirm that rent increases have, at least temporarily, hit a ceiling:

• Prague: the average October rent rose by 4.3 percent year on year, to 486 CZK per square metre per month. For a 30-square-metre studio, that comes to 14,580 CZK a month. Last year, growth was 7.1 percent.
• Brno: according to Sreality.cz, rents rose 4 percent over the year, compared with 12.3 percent a year earlier.
• Ostrava: annual growth is still at 7–8 percent, but since April the average rent has stabilized at around 250 CZK per square metre.

UlovDomov has recorded a similar picture. “The market is no longer growing as uniformly as in previous quarters, and the trend depends more on the specific layout and district. Prague remains the most expensive, but year-on-year growth is only moderate in most categories,” says CEO Michal Hrbatý.

Negotiating with your landlord

Haggling with the landlord can also help tenants soften an increase. According to the Generali Investments survey, half of those who tried to negotiate achieved at least a partial reduction in rent.

Around Prague guide on the topic: Цены аренды квартир в Праге 2026 по кварталам и районам: 1+kk, 2+kk и 3+kk

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz