<div>Residential construction in the Czech Republic last year did not meet the demand for housing</div>

Prague - Housing construction in the Czech Republic last year still did not meet the demand for housing. Builders began constructing fewer apartments year-on-year, due to investor distrust as well as complicated conditions for new construction. According to experts consulted by ČTK, this could change with the amendment to the building law, which will allow for faster construction of larger housing projects. Although the number of completed apartments increased year-on-year last year, it was still below the multi-year average.

In 2025, according to data from the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ), construction of 35,819 apartments began, which was a year-on-year decline of 2.2 percent after a growth the year before. The number of completed apartments increased by 11.5 percent year-on-year to 33,742. The regions where the most apartments began construction and where the most were completed were Prague, Central Bohemia, and South Moravia. The number of apartments that builders started in the last month of the year decreased year-on-year by 11.2 percent to 2,774. The number of completed apartments increased by 56 percent year-on-year to 2,988.

The decline in the number of initiated apartment constructions may, according to economist of the Czech Banking Association Jaromír Šindel, be caused among other things by investor caution. The increase in the number of completed apartments is a result of finishing projects started in previous years. However, he noted that the number completed was still nearly five percent less than the previous five-year average.

According to Richard Morávek, founder of the investment and development group Redstone, the current data from ČSÚ confirms that the Czech real estate market is in a phase of stabilization, but not revival. Therefore, he believes that 2026 will rather be a transitional period in which conditions may be created for a more significant revival of construction in the following years. However, the problems with housing availability will not be resolved this year, he stated. "A positive signal for the future is the planned introduction of a simplified permitting process," Morávek added.

The situation is similarly perceived by Michaela Váňová, Executive Director of Central Group, who believes that the current form of the building law does not fulfill its purpose. "The amendment to the building law, which has already passed its first reading in the Chamber of Deputies, could provide a solution. However, it is important that its adoption is not unnecessarily prolonged by obstructions and that its potential is not diminished by overly creative amendments," Váňová stated. According to her, without a fundamental systemic change, long-term sustainable development of construction and improvement in housing availability cannot be expected.