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.