4 ms·

Don't know about Eastern Europe, but in Central Europe, Czech Republic (an Prague in particular) has had a housing crisis for quite some time.

by jhgb 5y ago

ChuckNorris89 5y ago
Well, Prague, like Paris, London, Barcelona, etc. suffers the curse of being a touristic hotspot so it's difficult to compete with all the AirBnBs that rake in that sweet tourist $$$. I'm sure the rest of Czech republic that has less tourists are a lot more affordable.
- jhgb 5y ago
  Anecdotally, an acquaintance of mine had to put down a ~$US10K non-refundable deposit (several monthly wages back then, even for her way-above-average income at that time) to just be allowed to compete for a rented flat in Prague with other prospective tenants...more than twenty years ago. So well before any AirBnB or anything like that.
  - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
    Sound kinda like a scam targeting rich foreigners. Like how in Berlin the landlords will make you buy their furniture off them for ~15.000 Euros if you want to rent their apartment as it's a seller's market. Crazy times we live in in Europe.
    - jhgb 5y ago
      Uh...she was a Czech, just like I am. That's simply how housing in Prague worked back then, apparently. I'm just glad that I was just a student living in affordable dorms at that time (something like $US40 per month or so? I don't recall the exact figure anymore). She was a Prague native. BTW, as for "the rest of Czech Republic", things are not rosy in general: https://english.radio.cz/no-end-sight-inflation-czech-housing-market-8722538 https://english.radio.cz/no-end-sight-inflation-czech-housin... If the article about the US situation claims 118% of inflation-adjusted price increase since 1965, that's less than 2% increase per year. Not quite sure how this number is comparable to recent Czech figures, but I'm sure that Czech inflation wasn't anywhere near seven percent in the last years, so there's that. A 65% price increase since 2015 would be 9% annually on average. Czech inflation between 2015 and 2020 has been ~2.25%/y on average. So that would make the price rises adjusted for inflation 6.6%/y on average.
rsj_hn 5y ago
FYI, in America and most English speaking part of the world, they consider the former Warsaw Pact nations like Czech Republic Eastern Europe, and insisting that no, it's "central europe" will make them a bit confused and, frankly, sounds very small. So if your goal is to communicate with English speakers, I'd stick to "Eastern Europe". (Please don't respond with some argument about balancing a cutout of Europe on a needle, etc., I'm talking about using words instrumentally.)
- jhgb 5y ago
  What is it about "balancing a cutout of Europe on a needle"? That has nothing to do with anything. The Warsaw Pact existed for four decades. The Holy Roman Empire existed for a millennium. Guess which one shaped the country more. The important thing is that it used to have one of the communist governments that GGP talked about.
  - rsj_hn 5y ago
    Your attempt to try to change a widely used label because of the Holy Roman Empire reveals either a charming belief that labels must preserve some long term historical truth, or it's a strident attempt to force people to change their own language. In either case, you are tilting at windmills.
    - jhgb 5y ago
      No, they have windmills in the Netherlands. I'm in the Czech Republic. BTW if you're concerned about "not preserving historical truths", a major contemporary truth is that Central Europe is part of the common EU market and Schengen Area, while Eastern Europe isn't. So that's quite relevant for the market situation.
      - dcolkitt 5y ago
        Latvia is Central Europe?
        5y ago

Don't know about Eastern Europe, but in Central Europe, Czech Republic (an Prague in particular) has had a housing crisis for quite some time.

by jhgb 5y ago

Don't know about Eastern Europe, but in Central Europe, Czech Republic (an Prague in particular) has had a housing crisis for quite some time.

ChuckNorris89 5y ago

Well, Prague, like Paris, London, Barcelona, etc. suffers the curse of being a touristic hotspot so it's difficult to compete with all the AirBnBs that rake in that sweet tourist $$$. I'm sure the rest of Czech republic that has less tourists are a lot more affordable.

jhgb 5y ago
Anecdotally, an acquaintance of mine had to put down a ~$US10K non-refundable deposit (several monthly wages back then, even for her way-above-average income at that time) to just be allowed to compete for a rented flat in Prague with other prospective tenants...more than twenty years ago. So well before any AirBnB or anything like that.
- ChuckNorris89 5y ago
  Sound kinda like a scam targeting rich foreigners. Like how in Berlin the landlords will make you buy their furniture off them for ~15.000 Euros if you want to rent their apartment as it's a seller's market. Crazy times we live in in Europe.
  - jhgb 5y ago
    Uh...she was a Czech, just like I am. That's simply how housing in Prague worked back then, apparently. I'm just glad that I was just a student living in affordable dorms at that time (something like $US40 per month or so? I don't recall the exact figure anymore). She was a Prague native. BTW, as for "the rest of Czech Republic", things are not rosy in general: https://english.radio.cz/no-end-sight-inflation-czech-housing-market-8722538 https://english.radio.cz/no-end-sight-inflation-czech-housin... If the article about the US situation claims 118% of inflation-adjusted price increase since 1965, that's less than 2% increase per year. Not quite sure how this number is comparable to recent Czech figures, but I'm sure that Czech inflation wasn't anywhere near seven percent in the last years, so there's that. A 65% price increase since 2015 would be 9% annually on average. Czech inflation between 2015 and 2020 has been ~2.25%/y on average. So that would make the price rises adjusted for inflation 6.6%/y on average.

rsj_hn 5y ago

FYI, in America and most English speaking part of the world, they consider the former Warsaw Pact nations like Czech Republic Eastern Europe, and insisting that no, it's "central europe" will make them a bit confused and, frankly, sounds very small. So if your goal is to communicate with English speakers, I'd stick to "Eastern Europe". (Please don't respond with some argument about balancing a cutout of Europe on a needle, etc., I'm talking about using words instrumentally.)

jhgb 5y ago
What is it about "balancing a cutout of Europe on a needle"? That has nothing to do with anything. The Warsaw Pact existed for four decades. The Holy Roman Empire existed for a millennium. Guess which one shaped the country more. The important thing is that it used to have one of the communist governments that GGP talked about.
- rsj_hn 5y ago
  Your attempt to try to change a widely used label because of the Holy Roman Empire reveals either a charming belief that labels must preserve some long term historical truth, or it's a strident attempt to force people to change their own language. In either case, you are tilting at windmills.
  - jhgb 5y ago
    No, they have windmills in the Netherlands. I'm in the Czech Republic. BTW if you're concerned about "not preserving historical truths", a major contemporary truth is that Central Europe is part of the common EU market and Schengen Area, while Eastern Europe isn't. So that's quite relevant for the market situation.
    - dcolkitt 5y ago
      Latvia is Central Europe?
      - 5y ago