BUSINESS
Our Region Has Much to Offer
Be Proud to Say It
According to an April study by Deloitte, rental housing represents app. 23.4% of housing capacities
in the Czech Republic. The greatest private rental housing provider in the Czech Republic is RESIDOMO.
The company owns and operates a portfolio of 43,000 rental flats, most of them in the MoravianSilesian region. RESIDOMO houses about 90,000 people mostly in Ostrava, Havířov, Karviná,
Orlová, Frýdek-Místek and Opava.
In mid-April the company took over another region,
and bought 274 flats in Ostrava, Havířov and
Olomouc for over 270 million CZK. We asked Jan
Rafaj, CEO RESIDOMO why the company decided
to do so.
Last year only two more transactions took place in
the Czech Republic related to real estate consisting of
over 100 rental flats: a sale of 739 rental flats in Písnice
u Prahy and one of 106 rental flats in the project Turku
Suomi Hloubětín in Prague. We bought the Moravský
bytový fond (Moravian Housing Capacity) operating
in the Moravian-Silesian Olomouc regions for a few
reasons. Firstly, our capacities in Ostrava are sold out
and we very often have to refuse applications from
new prospective clients. Secondly, we figured out
that such an investment will pay off in the long–term
prospective. Thirdly, our mother company intends
to develop their enterprise in the region with more
investments to come. This was declared at the beginning and this transaction clearly supports the intention.
You are Vice-President of the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic. You certainly do understand the needs of the region even from the position of potential investors you often meet. What
exactly does our region have to offer?
We must improve and strengthen the positive relations
of local people towards their home region, promote
places of interests and sights, events, businesses, projects and personalities. In the past 10–15 years, so
many wonderful things have happened, they just need
to be actively supported, they need to be reported
about on, discussed and reviewed in various media.
It is critical to support education, science and research
in businesses and schools, especially in the fields
which correspond with the local economy. Students
need more active collaboration with real enterprise
and the best ones should be awarded scholarships,
attractive internships and job offers. I believe in the
good prospects of the region and I believe its potential
to grow is really huge.
What do you offer your clients in comparison to
other rental housing providers?
We guarantee above-standard service, e.g. Service48
(a range of home repairs within two days), Senior
Assistant to help the elderly and physically challenged
with task a at home; a benefit programme called
RESIDOMO Family; assistance in the enforcement of
alimony collection, etc. Moreover, clients may join in
and participate in the programme of the RESIDOMO
Endowment Fund and more.
Renting flats abroad is standard. Czechs prefer
mortgages: why is that?
The first 20 years after the revolution the prices of
housing were out of proportion. Czech are also very
conservative and “living in their own space” is equivalent to the British “my house, my castle”, no matter
that this certainty means the certainty of a long-term
financial burden. It keeps us limited. Rental flats are
a perfect solution to all age groups. It provides anyone
good flexibility and the opportunity to quickly react to
any challenge or change in life. Moreover, the costs of
mortgages are rising again and people are looking for
rental homes simply because it is cheaper. In this way
the Czech Republic approaches the western European
standards where rented homes outnumber owned
flats and houses.
It is critical to support
education, science
and research in businesses
and schools.
And investments?
In 2017 the company invested over 830 million CZK
in repairs of buildings and flats. Over 5,000 flats were
repaired, large flats (in low demand) are being rebuilt
into smaller ones suitable for seniors or starter homes
for the young. Step by step we are minimizing the
number of low–quality flats. Our vision goes even further. We will not achieve our plans within a year, however, we have our plans and find it very important that
a change for the better related to the entrance of new
company owners will be positive, obvious and clearly
demonstrated.
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What is the position of RESIDOMO in comparison
to similar companies in other European countries?
Our owners have long-term experience in the management of dozens of thousands of rental flats in western
European countries; in late March they acquired
a portfolio of 60 blocks with 925 residential and
commercial units in Frankfurt (in the city and in its
district). In Europe they now therefore own and
manage over 100,000 rental flats. I am convinced that
rental housing will become more and more attractive
to many inhabitants of the Czech Republic. Together
we are working to improve the image of the housing
portfolio of RESIDOMO and our aim is to become the
leader and trendsetter in quality standards and level of
services in rental housing in the Czech Republic.