any experience of buying in prague? district 2

Good evening
has any one any experience of buying in prague?
any tips / advice most welcome. looking at an investment property in district 2
regards

Re: Prague

Hi Antob,
I nearly bought in Prague in 2004. We were living in Prague
and were being swept along with
all the EEA membership euphoria and prices were increasing.
I am glad that we did not buy as the prices have not
really taken off as well as expected. In fact they have
stayed rather flat.

Officially all foreigners have to set up a limited company
before buying property. There are ways around this
but they range from being creative
to downright dishonest. So best avoided

The highest fee is the real estate transfer tax. You do not
have to worry about it during purchasing as this is paid
by the seller. However, you need to budget this in when
you come to sell the property.
Apart from that there is stamp duty and notary fees
although these are not excessive. Any of the Prague
based estate agents can tell you far more.

Frankly there are better places to buy in Central Europe
if you are looking for an investment property


Best regards,

Hythorn

Re: Prague

hythorn said:

Hi Antob,
Officially all foreigners have to set up a limited company
before buying property. There are ways around this
but they range from being creative
to downright dishonest. So best avoided

Click to expand...

Surely that's no longer the case for EU citizens now that the Czech Republic is a member of the EU?

Re: Prague

In reply to Persius

The Czech Republic has negotiated some limitations in their accession to the EU regarding the purchase of properties by foreigners. So the whole procedure is basically no different from what it was before the accession.

Foreigners cannot buy farming land in Poland until 2011 unless you set up
a Sp. zo.o. (private limited company) I have set up a few in my time and it is not
a lot of fun. Poland is still an EU member in spite of this

I do not pretend to know much about Bulgaria except they have joined the EU and all foreigners must set up a limited company before being able to buy land.
It applies to houses but not flats

Re: Prague

I was aware of the exemption in Poland. It's basically because large parts of Western Poland were German before the second world war. In 1945, Stalin succeeded in siezing what was then Eastern Poland (now Belarus and Ukraine) and given the Poles land in the West (which was previously German) in return. This resulted in huge population shifts of ethnic Germans from these lands westwards to either BRD or DDR. The Poles are still woried that the Germans may look for reparations for the land. Their other fear is that wealthy German decendants of the original inhabitants would purchase the farmland in Western Poland and try to present some sort of fait acompli.

The Danes also got a similar exemption for property close to the sea either when they joined the EEC (as it was then called) along with Ireland and the UK, or later when freedom to purchase property throughout the EU was introduced. The Danes were also afraid the Germans would buy up all the holiday homes.

The Austrians tried to get a similar exemption in 1995 when they joined the EU, but the EU refused it. So I'm surprised that there could be some such exemption for property in Prague (I could understand farmland in the border areas for the same reasons as Poland).

Similarly surprised if you still need to set up a company in Bulgaria. Seeing as Bulgaria only joined last month, laws may have changed, but people are unaware of them.

Re: Prague

The only requirement to buy a property in czech republic is to have a temporary residence permit in order to be able to register the property on your name in the cadastre.
If you are from the EU member you can do it easily. In case you are not EU member then you need to go thru the process of setting up the company.
There are several law and companies they have special packages to get the residence permit.
Prices are increasing pretty quickly year in prague. One of the reasons is the rasing of the VAT. Next year VAT for residential is going from 5% to 19%. People is rushing for buying this year.
If someone wants to exchange experiences and opinions about the prague real estate market just send me an email. jacobosc@gmail.com

Re: Prague

Hi Jacob

thanks for the impartial advice ;-)



Hythorn

Re: Prague

all joking apart

[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']it is not that easy to get a residency permit, it is a little tricky…you cannot just roll up and ask for the permit. You have to present a reason for applying for the residency permit and foreign police department must approve the reasons. It depends on the situation of client and the final solution to get that permit can be dependant on the clients situation[/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]

Well... It seems that it is possible to obtain the residence permit base on the fact you want to buy a real estate for living in. So you just need to go to the foreign police office with the future purchase agreement and request the residence permit. The residence permit it is granted in the same day.
The foreign police department in Prague is a chaos where nobody speaks English and where you will need to spend probably the whole morning waiting. In my case I went with a Czech speaking guy and it was easier.
About the real estate transfer tax. This tax is a flat rate of 3%. Registering the property in the cadastre or notary fees are very low.
Hythorn, if you had the opportunity to invest in 2004 and you didn't, I think you miss a good opportunity to do a good deal.
Any new development in P2 or P3 is around 80.000 up to 100.000 CZK/sqm.
And I can give you a few examples.
http://www.riegrovysady.cz -> sold out, it is not even finish and the prices are around 90.000 CZK/sqm
http://www.centralparkpraha.cz/. In Praha 3. Prices starting at 100.000 CZK/sqm
http://www.satpo.cz/cenik.aspx?p=1
http://www.korunnidvur.cz/. Same prices as mentioned below. Sekyra group is doing a new complex just next to it, they are not announcing prices on the web but the prices are
http://www.residenceprokopova.com. P3. Prices around 90.000 CZK/sqm


Replying to antob. Praha 2 – Vinohorady is the most desirable are for residential purposes in Prague. It is a well known area for expats community. This area is where you can get a higher rent but the prices are quite high. I don't think you will be able to find too many good opportunities in there.
In my opinion the best areas for investing at this moment are P4-Nusle, P7-Holesovice, P8-Karlin and P3-Zizkov. All those areas are the ones surrounding P1 and P2 and I see them with a higher potential of growth.
I am giving my opinion and experiences as a buyer. I am working in IT for a dutch company, I am from Spain. My company moved me here 2 years ago. I recently bought one apartment and I am planning to buy a second one and I just want to exchange opinions or experiences.

Re: any experience of buying in prague?

Hi All,
Am also interested in buying in Prague, currently looking in District 6.

Would really be grateful if any members here could share their views and experiences of buying property in the Czech Republic.

Surely there must be at least one member here who has bought out there ???


Cheers

Hi NavanMan1. You can buy in Czech now with an EU card, rather than buying through an SRO. Buying in Czech is painless compared to Romania or Hungary (my opinion of course) and 100% finance is available.

The market is picking up and rental yields are much better than plenty of Czechs Eastern neighbours.

I bought one and I am planning to buy a second one. I have two possible opportunities and I am not deciding yet. I dont like prague 6. I dont know why you prefer that area. Not many things going on in there, too quite for my taste.
You can drop me a line jacobo.carballada@gmail.com to exchange any idea or comment about real estate in prague.

Please stop posting your e-mail address looking for people to contact you or you will be banned.

HI,Im czech and Prague 6 is very good adress,properties have very good value as Vinohrady.Prices quiet hig for me.
I buing flat brand new 1 bed apt.58 sq.m. for 85 000 € at Prague 5 (reregistered as 13) (New) Nove Stodulky.Is perfect location for me and my girlfriend, nice quiet area,to city centr 5 mins by car,10 mins by bus or even you can take tube underground.