Booms and busts in Prague’s commercial real estate market

Abstract

The chapter looks at the issue of the remarkable increase of the commercial real estate market in Prague during the last two decades and also at the behaviour of the unsaturated market in the face of the onset of strong investors and developers. Supply dynamics of the office and retail market in Prague is described, bringing insight into the commercial real estate development boom in the Czech capital. It shows the expansion process, which phases it passed and to which city parts it was primarily directed, which projects most shaped the face of the Prague real estate market and changed the urban landscape. Last but not least, the chapter provides an answer as to how the situation looks today after the pace of growth has culminated. The chapter also deals with urban hierarchy and with spatial aspects of office and retail developments in the city including. location of the major centres and touches briefly the real estate development process in the country.