The Czech Republic is one of the most Westernised ex-Eastern Bloc countries, and that is not surprising really as it is further west than is, for example, Vienna, capital of Austria. The country snuggles in between Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Poland, home to a population of 10.3million in an area of 78,866 square kilometres. It is, of course, landlocked with 2,290 kilometres of border.

The capital Prague has an area of 496 square kilometres and a population of nearly 1.2million. Flight time from the UK is less than an hour and a half and the country is now served by economy airlines making it easily accessible in terms of time and money. The capital is steeped in history, with the beautiful architecture of Czech property, untouched by World War II bombing. The city has 57 Districts that spiral out from Prague 1, the city centre. Wages in the capital are 50% higher than the rest of the Czech Republic. There is an emerging middle class culture developing, and this group of people aspire to move to new Czech property from the old pre-fab housing.

After the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s the Czech Republic was one of the first to embrace European politicization. Czechoslovakia became the Czech Republic and Slovakia in a “velvet divorce” on 1 January 1993. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999, and then joined the EU in May 2004. The country aims to join the Euro monetary system between 2010 and 2012.

The country now lies at the heart of Europe, and the capital, Prague is attracting increasing business investment with multi-national corporations now setting up their headquarters in Czech property in the city. Here they can take advantage of a multi-lingual workforce, a stable economy, low inflation and low interest rates. The currency is the Czech Koruna (crown), currently worth about 42 to the pound.

In terms of housing, Eastern Europe will have to re-house around 24 million people in the next 20 years. After the second world war communist regimes built pre-fab housing to house the mass of population, but this housing was not built to last and is reaching the end of its useful life. The result is a need for re-housing on a grand scale. The people will have to buy or rent – and Czech property is a great opportunity for buy-to-let investors.

Prague has seen a number of new Czech property developments spring up as developers realize the potential. There have also been a number of re-developments of old buildings which help to retain the character and charm of Czech property in the city. New Czech property developments can range from a small number of apartments to hundreds of apartments serving a whole new community. But don’t think the British way. Medium-rise apartment block are popular in Europe, and so is the culture of renting. They do not all aspire to own their own property like we Brits do.

As Prague grows and prices gradually go up, so some of Czech property become out of reach of young professionals. Other city workers will not be comfortable with actually living in the city (though here again, don’t think of Prague as London; the difference in size, scale and the number of people is huge – with London being much the bigger). However, there is a trend for Czechs to look at living outside of the capital and commuting in. One such town is Beroun, 30 kilometres south west of the capital. Here, a number of new developments in Czech property are taking the city to a new level, and it is on an easy commuter route into Prague. Forecasts are for Beroun to boom in the next few years, yet currently Czech property there is very affordable with one bedroom apartments in relatively small complexes in some excellent location selling off-plan for less than £30,000.

If you can’t afford buy-to-let in the UK, just look to Czech property for a good starting investment.