Buying a 70 sqm flat in Prague nearly impossible: Europe’s least affordable city worsens
Prague is now Europe’s least affordable city for buying a home, according to international real-estate studies; saving for a new 70 sqm apartment would take 15.9 years on an average salary.
Buying a home in Europe is becoming increasingly difficult even for people with stable jobs and average incomes. In many major cities, apartment prices are rising much faster than wages, making it almost impossible to save enough for one’s own property.
The situation is worst in the Czech capital. According to international real-estate market studies, Prague has become the least affordable city in Europe for purchasing a home. Analysts estimate that with an average salary, a person would need to save their entire income for 15.9 years to buy a new 70-square-metre apartment. This calculation is purely theoretical, as it does not account for spending on food, utilities, transport or other daily needs.
Over the past year, the situation has worsened further, with the indicator rising by 0.4 of an annual salary. The main reason is rapid property price growth, which far outpaces income increases. In the last decade, new apartments in Prague have become nearly 180% more expensive, while average wages have risen by only about 80%.
Economists call this phenomenon “housing bubble asymmetry”, when property prices lose their connection to local labour market wages. In Prague, this is exacerbated by slow construction approval processes, as well as global investors and short-term rental platforms like Airbnb, which push local buyers out of the historic centre and its surroundings.
This situation is reshaping the behaviour of an entire generation. Young families are increasingly forced to take out long-term mortgages for decades or remain in the rental market much longer than originally planned. That, in turn, drives up demand for rentals and adds further pressure on prices. A similar trend is visible in other large Central European cities. Sociologists refer to this generation as the “rent generation”, as the prolonged inability to own a home changes people’s psychology and demographics – young people in big European cities start families later and choose mobility over attachment to one property, which directly affects the birth rate in the region.
