Investing in the Czech Republic - Outside of Prague - Part 1: Brno Property

Imagine if you had bought property in Prague 8 years ago.... Brno property has been getting a lot of exposure lately. And for good reason. Attractive deals in Prague are getting harder to find. Attention is beginning to turn elsewhere. Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic. Being the business capital of Moravia it boasts some big name companies such as IBM, Siemens, Minolta CR, Honeywell Controls and FEI. At the end of March 2005, RyanAir began daily direct flights from London to Brno. Flights from Dublin to Brno are rumored to be next on the list of priorities. In 2008 a major motorway is planned to be completed that will link central-northern Moravia with Poland making the area more attractive for Polish investors and traffic. Currently, property prices are a third of what is available in Prague and there is a strong and growing rental demand for quality properties. What are outside sources saying about Brno? The city of Brno has won the competition for European City of the Future 2004/2005 which is organized by the prestigious FDI magazine, a Financial Times publication, in the category of Visegrad group cities. It even beat out Prague and Budapest. "Brno's fast economic growth and high GDP-per-capita helped to push it ahead of other cities in the region. The judges also gave top marks for its economic potential and recent FDI deals involving UK-headquartered engineering firm IMI International, US technology group Honeywell and US advanced engineering company Danaher Motion, which between them created 900 jobs. Brno also scored well for its international promotion strategy and incentives." Swiss company Aguna chose to build their new plant in Brno. The company intends to invest almost 250 million crowns during the first two years. They will be able to employ at least 80 people in production and development of precision instruments. A large part of the employees will be college-educated specialists. "The quality level of the work force was the deciding factor for Aguna." "Their representatives are convinced that they will find engineers in Brno who are just as capable and qualified as in Switzerland," said Tom