Market Report H2 2025: The Market Is Seeking a New Normal

“Although the sharp price increases we saw a year ago have slowed, demand for properties in our portfolio is growing at double-digit rates. Moderate price consolidation shows that the premium residential real estate segment remains healthy and the market is not overheating,” states Prokop Svoboda, owner of Svoboda & Williams.

In the second half of last year, clients of Svoboda & Williams paid an average of CZK 186,647 per square meter for new builds and CZK 165,691 per square meter for resales. Real estate prices increased by 3.7% in the last half-year and in the year-on-year comparison by 7.6% (H2 2025 vs. H2 2024). “After a period of five years, the proportion of buyers using mortgage financing once again exceeded purchases made exclusively from their own resources,” explains Svoboda & Williams’ analyst Kryštof Kušiak. In his estimation, 54% of clients relied on a mortgage to buy property. This trend is also confirmed by data from the Czech Banking Association—the balance of newly granted mortgage loans rose by 41% in 2025 compared to the previous year. 

Market prices for rental housing are also rising. At the same time, it’s clear that the structure of the rental market is changing. “The share of smaller apartments has been increasing over the long term, which may be related to demographic changes and an increase in single-person households, tenants’ cost-saving behavior, and developers’ preference for more efficient and affordable units,” says Svoboda.

In the sample monitored by Svoboda & Williams, in the second half of 2015 the small-sized apartment segment (studios and one-bedrooms) constituted up to 59% of all rented apartments in Prague. “Three years ago, this figure was about 45% and 10 years ago even 35–40 %,” adds Kušiak.

Due to changes in the structure of the rental portfolio, the average rental price fell by 1.1% in the second half of the year to CZK 40,440.

The office space market remained sluggish in the second half of the year. “Very low construction activity and a shortage of high-quality new builds continue to reduce vacancy rates in attractive locations. In the third quarter of 2025, they fell below 5% and remain below 6.5% throughout the year,” says Svoboda & Williams’ Head of Commercial Leasing Jaroslav Waldhauser. In contrast, the flexible and shared office segment is growing and expanding in the capital city. The total area of these spaces was over CZK 146,000 m², which represents a year-on-year increase of over 9%.