Rental flats flood Prague market as Airbnb collapses

The number of flats being offered up for rent on the Bezrealitky.cz server has risen 44 percent in Prague as a result of the coronavirus crisis. The collapse in tourist trade has shut off the flow in short-term visitors who used online rental platforms like Airbnb to find cheap alternatives to hotel rooms. With many owners of flats desperate to replace the income in order to be able to continue to make mortgage payments. This has forced them to start looking at the less lucrative but far more stable long-term rental market. Country-wide, the number of units offered on the server has risen 16 percent. Interestingly, the number of apartment sales also rose dramatically by 17 percent over the last month. The server's director Hendrik Meyer says these are probably deals that were already being discussed but were pushed forward because of the crisis. "On the other hand, if the growth continues in April, it would be good news for the residential market, because it would mean that people are still willing to buy despite the growing uncertainty over how the domestic economy will evolve."