After several difficult years, real estate funds can once again shine in the investment sky. They will be helped by falling interest rates, which will unblock a large portion of money lying idle in savings accounts not only in the Czech Republic. At the same time, it will strengthen the fund's acquisition appetite, thereby expanding the scope for future returns to investors.

Last year's performance, especially of retail funds, however, will not be remembered fondly by more sensitive investors. The majority did not reach the giant Czech inflation. But this year has so far brought a welcome calm on the price development front, and real estate funds may be on course again.

Recent figures show that investors, especially domestic ones, are regaining their appetite for purchases on the Czech real estate market. In the second quarter, according to the analysis of the real estate consulting company Knight Frank, real estate investments in the Czech Republic reached 440 million euros, i.e. roughly 11.1 billion crowns. And that's 23 percent more than last year. At the same time, the largest transaction was not handled by an investment group or a real estate fund, but by the Prague municipality in the spring.

In the second quarter of this year, the market was dominated by investments in offices, which accounted for two fifths of the value of all transactions. This is mainly thanks to the representatives of Prague, who even before the holidays decided to buy a set of buildings on Wenceslas Square from Komerční banka for 3.5 billion crowns. In the future, the municipality wants to move officials here from the Škoda Palace, where the city only rents.

The analysis also showed rising interest in rental projects, which accounted for a quarter of all investments. For example, the MINT residential fund announced in June the purchase of more than three hundred apartments in the Prague Vysočanský mlýn project from Metrostav, where it wants to build rental housing. At the end of June, the developers Finep and AFI Europe also announced cooperation on the construction of more than 800 rental apartments in the ninth and tenth city districts.