Focus on Prague
Selling Prague as a destination for weekend breakers is akin to marketing Harvey Nichols or Harrods to the shopaholic. The undisputed beauty of the architecture in Prague has been revered for centuries as it now claims the position of the financial hub in central Europe. Prague’s chocolate-box charm with an array of museums, galleries and over 80 cosy jazz bars give the visitor everything they could wish for. Despite the notion of post-communist traces of corruption in business the economy of the Czech Republic in recent years has performed very well and defied this misconception. The growth has not been based on a cash economy as in Russia or fuelled by unsustainable inflation levels.
Unlike other new areas such as the Black Sea the rental yields on properties are much more stable and accurate over a 5 year period. These newer regions have absolutely no history of rental yields for new builds in coastal regions so figures are merely rough approximations and not based on any precise data. The extent to which cheaper Spanish style high rise properties are built in these areas actually give potential holiday tenants greater choice so can push prices down.
In Prague, contrary to this, the level of luxury developments near the centre is at a premium. This allows for top-end rental yields to cater for the cash rich generation of high earners in the city as opposed to tourists staying seasonally between May and September. Accessibility has been the key factor in sustaining a thriving tourism industry and structural reforms prior to EU entry has given Prague a major injection of foreign investment which continues to grow owing to the charm of the city and highly skilled workers. At present there are over 10 airports in the UK serving Prague (the newest being East Midlands and Kent International) with over 6 cheap airlines. Considering the journey time to Prague of just under 2 hours, a buy-to-let property can be reached in less than 5 hours door-to-door which is an obvious advantage for the discerning investor.