The COVID-19 restrictions have put more cash into the average Czech’s savings account, and subsequently spilled into real estate, Novinky reports.
According to new data from Českého statistického úřadu (Czech Statistical Office), household savings grew in 2020 by 217.1 billion crowns.
The Czech National Bank can also confirm that the amount of deposits exceeded three trillion crowns, whereas in December of 2019, the bank recorded 2.72 trillion crowns of deposits.
“Household consumption was very limited because of the various restrictions, including the mandatory home office and closed businesses. It was absolutely to be expected that, thanks to this stall in consumption, Czechs would increase their savings,” Petr Zámečník, an analyst at EMA data.
According to a study done by the company in May, 36% of all Czechs have less than 100,000 crowns in assets, or about $4,640. Another 30% have assets worth somewhere between 1 and 5 million crowns. Only 4.7% of Czechs have assets exceeding 10 million crowns. Of the people with exceeding 10 million crowns, about 40% of them own real estate purely for investment purposes.
The taste for home ownership can also be seen in the surge in demand for cottages and rural getaway homes in the country. According to Ondřej Mašín, Executive Director of Bidli Reality, Czech cottages soared 30% between April 2019 and April 2020.
“Prices will continue to rise. Compared to previous months, we can see an increase in prices of up to 30%. In autumn of last year, almost 200 people called us interested in a cottage near Pilsen in a single week. The property sold very quickly. We have seen dozens of simliar cases. For example, a listing for a holiday home in in Kozlov near Česká Třebová for 2.3 million crowns was responded to by 80 people. It was gone within a week for a half million above asking price. A cottage in Jivany in Český ráj for 2.815million crowns was sold in about five months, but with a much higher price and after almost 100 people responded to the listing.”
