The City of Brno has opened two new cooperative housing options for young people who want to settle in Brno and buy their own property. As part of this scheme, an apartment building with 33 apartments suitable for families will be built on Holásecká in Brno-Tuřany, while a historic house on Mostecká in Brno-Husovice will be completely renovated and separated into smaller apartments, which will also be affordable for single occupants.
Applicants for the project must meet several criteria. They can be couples, single parents with a child, or single people without children (though for the latter group, the choice is limited to 1+kk or 2+kk), but all applicants must be under 45 for the Holásecká scheme or under 47 for Mostecká. The scheme is also open to EU citizens who are resident in the Czech Republic, but applications are not available for anyone who already owns residential property.
The household must also demonstrate sufficient net monthly income, which varies depending on the size of the apartment:
- for apartments from 35 to 50 m 2 : CZK 45,000–90,000
- for apartments from 50 to 70 m 2 : CZK 55,000–90,000
- for apartments from 70 to 85 m 2 : CZK 65,000–90,000
- for flats above 85 m 2 : CZK 75,000–100,000
The City of Brno Housing Department and the Brno Real Estate Company will negotiate with the applicants. First, they will be invited to choose their preferred apartments from the apartment cards, and then they will be contacted in the order of registration to sign a reservation contract and pay a deposit of CZK 100,000, to be later deducted from the price of the apartment.
The membership deposit, comparable to a down payment on a mortgage, is then 25% or 50% of the price of the apartment. Monthly repayment amounts depend on the size of this down payment; when paying a 50% share, the income limit is also reduced proportionately.
“The price per m2 will be definitively clear only after the selection of the contractor for each project,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing Karin Podivinská. “However, unless an unforeseen crisis occurs, it can be expected to be significantly lower than for commercial development projects. Unlike private owners, the city has no margin on apartments and cooperatives purchase them at cost price. For example, for the first cooperative housing project on Kamenný vrch, the resulting price of one m2 was CZK 107,839 CZK, meaning that a 74-meter 3+kk apartment cost CZK 8 million.”
The city hopes to start construction work on both Holásky and Mostecká next year.
You can find more about individual projects and cooperative housing at bydleni.brno.cz.
