August 2nd, 2007 by Ines
Situated in central Europe, the Czech Republic (formerly known as Czechoslovakia prior to the break up) is land locked by Poland, Germany, Austria and Slovakia. While the country covers some 78,000 km2, it only has a population of just over 10 million. Over the last 20 years the country has been at the centre of much infighting and politician upheaval, but the situation seems to be more under control these days, and the economy is has been fairly up beat since the last recession which ended in 1999.
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August 2nd, 2007 by Ines
In particular, the property market has shown unprecedented growth in valuations since about 2001.
There are many opinions about the effect EU entry will have on the property market, but they generally fall into one of three camps: 1) Prices will soar after entry so the time is now to get in before the ‘big spike’, 2) Prices will plummet because the market has overvalued EU entry, 3) Nothing will happen since the future value of EU entry on property values have already been factored in to today’s prices.
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July 31st, 2007 by Ines
General Information about Property Taxes in the Czech Republic
Property tax returns (daň z nemovitosti) are due January 31st. The Czech Republic doesn’t calculate property according to the market value, but rather according to the size of the property. Consequently, property taxes here are very inexpensive in comparison to other countries. The base property tax rates are different depending on the purpose of the property.
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July 31st, 2007 by Ines
Negotiation has rightly been called an art. It is a vital skill in life, although some are naturally better at it than others. One can continue to improve however, and the proof of mastery is in the results achieved.
Let’s go through four critical points related to negotiating the purchase of property in the Czech Republic:
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July 31st, 2007 by Ines
Changes after the fall of the Communist regime
After the fall of the Communist regime in 1989, then Czechoslovakia returned to the community of European countries with market economies. After 40 years of totalitarianism, real estate and property was mostly in the hands of the state and cooperative organizations. Private ownership existed in only a limited fashion.
One of the first changes after 1989 was the widespread privatization of state property. Privatization was of the utmost importance for further development of Czechoslovakia, later the Czech Republic. It brought with it the necessary impulse for development of private ownership. On the other hand, the legal framework of privatization was underestimated. Many economists saw developments as some type of “escaping from lawyers (and the law)”.
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July 31st, 2007 by Ines
Tax aspects for companies buying and selling property
Taxation is an important evaluation factor to be considered by foreign companies when deciding under what aspect and purpose to acquire Czech real estate and even more so when evaluating how to dispose of the property - the so called ‘exit-route’.
The general principle of international taxation also applies to the Czech Republic being: that any gain or profit from real estate is taxed in the country where the real estate is located.
So taxes for real estate on Czech soil are paid in the Czech Republic
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July 31st, 2007 by Ines
Czech Republic Real Estate Market Information and Guide to Czech Real Estate Buying, tips, helpful information and advice for anyone wanting to buy property in the Czech Republic, searching for Czech Republic homes for sale and wanting to invest in real estate in Prague, or in Czech towns, countryside and villages.
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July 27th, 2007 by Ines
According to Law No. 357/1992 Coll., transfer against payment for or change of ownership of real estate is subject to real estate transfer tax. The financial office in whose district the transferred real estate is located is the local relevant tax administrator for filing a return for this tax. In general, the real estate transfer taxpayer is the transferor (seller), who also files the tax return. However, there are cases set forth in the law for which the transferee is the payer.
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July 24th, 2007 by Ines
Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC — GE Real Estate Central & Eastern Europe, along with Crestyl and Cheyne Capital, have acquired a ICKM Real Estate portfolio of residential developments in the Czech Republic in a € 100-million transaction.
As part of the transaction, Crestyl, a Czech development firm, will wholly acquire ICKM, a development management company. Since its creation in 1996, ICKM has built approximately 1,000 residential units in Prague.
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July 20th, 2007 by Ines
Real estate developer AFI Europe Czech Republic is set to invest billions of crowns in the next five years into building almost 3,000 new apartments in Prague. The company’s CEO David Halfi said that to finance the expansion the developer is considering an IPO on the Prague Stock Exchange.
The ambitious plan reflects the aggressive expansion of the firm’s mother company AFI Europe—a subsidiary of Israeli real estate group Africa Israeli Investment—which has branches and projects in Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Poland and Germany. To read the whole text, click here.