the steeply increasing prices of residential real estate are making returns on such investments ever more distant in Bratislava. (source: SME-Marko Erd)
Buying a flat and then renting it has become a popular strategy among Slovaks who have savings they want to protect from depreciation and who simultaneously want to earn some extra money. However, the steeply increasing prices of residential real estate are making returns on such investments ever more distant. Bratislava is among the most badly affected localities in Europe by this measure.
“The investment payback period also increased significantly in Bratislava, from 26 to 31 years, as the price of buy-to-let apartments in the city centre increased by 10 percent,” said Lucia Žárská, chief analyst at ProfitLevel, a provider of comprehensive investment services.
Its latest European survey of market sales prices and market rents for a one-room city-centre apartment (50 square metres), focusing on urban tourist destinations in Mediterranean and central Europe and conducted during the first half of 2022, shows that among central European locations, the payback horizon extended significantly in just one other city – Krakow, by four years to 29 years. On the other hand, it barely changed in Budapest (30 years) and in Warsaw it decreased to 27 years. The longest returns in central Europe are in Prague (over 35 years) and Vienna (almost 39 years).
“The first half of the year in the monitored European destinations, with a few exceptions, brought further growth in the prices of apartments suitable for investment,” said Žárská. “However, market rents were not enough in most cases, and in some cities they even fell. As a result, the payback period for the funds spent by the owner to buy the apartment is still longer.”
The longest return on investment for an apartment purchased for rent is in Munich, where it exceeds 40 years, followed with Dubrovnik, Croatia with 39 years.
