Twin openings boost Nove Butovice
Shopping mall adds another selling point to growing 'alternative city center'

A touch of humanity
Agency specialist urges looking beyond costs to 'qualitative differences' in new office space

Another gem for Wenceslas Square
The Forum combines contemporary amenities with vintage architecture

'An amazing year'
Colliers' Peter Chatfield takes stock and looks ahead

A walk in the park
Away from the glamour of Prague, a new breed of business parks is booming

RE BRIEFS

DEAL • German fund TMW Pramerica has bought Burzovni palac, an office and retail complex in downtown Prague. Valued at 25 million euros (802 million Kc/$35.8 million), the building was purchased from Enda O'Coileen's Kilcullen Capital Partners, which snapped it up in late 2003 for over 600 million Kc ($27.3 million). TMW Pramerica also owns Prague's Airport Logistics Park and the Koospol office complex. WARNING • Since 2002 rent regulation has cost homeowners at least 30 billion-50 billion Kc in damages and may be grounds for legal action against the state, Robert Axamit, deputy chairman of the Civic Association of House Owners has said, according to the Czech News Agency (CTK). House owners charge that regulated rents fall short of covering even maintenance costs. The suit should be filed at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the near future, according to the association. Similar action is planned by the Committee for the Defense of Real Estate Owners. Meanwhile, Regional Development Minister Jiri Paroubek expects the Czech government to avoid such lawsuits. Rent regulation affects about 750,000 apartments, one-fifth of all permanently inhabited flats in the Czech Republic. REPORT • Prague's modern office stock at the end of 2004 reached 1,660,796 square meters (17,876,659.36 square feet), a 15 percent increase in stock year on year, CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) reports. About 171,000 square meters were delivered to the market last year, a very slight drop from 2002 and 2003. This year CBRE expects 200,000 square meters of office space to be added. Prague's vacancy rate increased to 15.1 percent by the end of 2004 (13.2 percent of new-build space and 18 percent of refurbished offices). CBRE expects the vacancy rate to remain level or to rise slightly in 2005 due to speculative space that will be added. Prime headline office rents have fallen to about 18.50 euros per square meter per month, although net effective rents for such contracts may be 16.50-17.50 euros due to 1- to 3-month rent-free periods and the landlords' fit-out contributions. EARNINGS • Large banks are enjoying a profit windfall spurred by mortgage and consumer loans, as well as corporate lending, CTK reports in its survey of analysts. Last year profit growth was driven by fee rises. The most profitable bank last year was Komercni banka, the country's third-largest bank, which pocketed 9.3 billion Kc. The largest profit increase, almost doubling to 6.98 billion Kc, was reported by CSOB. Ceska sporitelna added 5 percent to earn 7.65 billion in profits. Meanwhile, Czech banks saw mortgage loan volume reach 126 billion by the end of January, rising 45 percent on the year. COMPETING • Building society Modra pyramida is taking aim at mortgage banks with Hypouver, a new product that combines the advantages of a loan and a mortgage. This loan offers a longer repayment period and a fixed interest rate, making it more accessible than a mortgage, according to Marketing Director Petr Blaha. In 2004 Modra pyramida granted 31,461 loans worth 6.5 billion Kc. SLOWDOWN • Growth in the mortgage market is set to fall from 40 percent to 20-30 percent in 2005, Jan Sadil, head of Hypotecni banka, told CTK. He also predicted a possible interest rate rise this year, as rates are unlikely to go any lower. In January and February, interest on a five-year mortgage started below 4.5 percent, with one-year rates hovering between 2.7 and 2.99 percent, CTK writes. PROPOSAL • The Cabinet is considering a new bill that would remove the need to secure construction permits for simpler building projects, Hospodarske noviny reports. Instead, a "building notification" would be needed. The type of required documentation would remain unchanged, however. The bill would cover single-family homes with less than 150 square meters of floor space. SUBSIDIES • The number of building and loan customers dropped by 400,000 to 5.9 million last year, Mlada fronta Dnes writes. The decrease pleased Deputy Finance Minister Tomas Prouza, as it also cut the amount of government subsidies. APPOINTMENT • Jones Lang LaSalle has named Justin Crawley associate director for retail investment. He holds a degree in urban land economics and is an associate of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He has also completed European investment training run by City University Business School and Jones Lang LaSalle. DEATHS • Fatal on-the-job injuries fell 7 percent to 192 last year, led by improved safety in the construction industry, the head of the Czech Safety Office has told CTK. The drop reflects a long-term trend since 1990, when 378 people lost their lives while working. In 2004, 53 percent of work-related deaths occurred in traffic. At building sites, the number of deaths fell by 20 percent, according to preliminary findings. --Compiled by Villu Arak