Selling a development project: from concept to handing over the keys
An investor usually imagines the sale of a development project as the final phase — the building is up, the price list is on the website, all that remains is to sell out. In reality the outcome is decided long before that, over floor plans that nobody is selling yet. This text takes you through a project from the first study to the handover of the last unit and, for each phase, says what is done in it and who is responsible for it. At the end there is a timeline that sums it all up in a single table.
Selling starts over the floor plan, not over the price list
The question “who will sell this for us” usually comes at the moment when the project documentation (projektová dokumentace) is complete and the construction permitted. By then, however, most of the commercial decisions have been made as well — only by someone else and for other reasons.
The unit mix (bytový mix), floor areas (podlahová plocha), orientation, the number of parking spaces (parkovací stání), the size of the cellars (sklep) and whether a two-room unit has a balcony (balkon) or only a French window (francouzské okno): all of these are items of the price list before the price list even exists. Changing them after the permit has been issued means changing the documentation — and that is a different discipline from rearranging rows in a table.
How strongly the mix decides can be seen in the market. In the first quarter of 2026, 2+kk units (two rooms plus a kitchenette) made up roughly 45 % of the new flats sold in Prague, and 1+kk units (one room plus a kitchenette) another 31 %. Together, more than three quarters of demand. A project dominated by large layouts (dispozice) does not sell more slowly because of its marketing, but because it is aimed at the remaining quarter.
What we mark on the drawings
On the site plan (situace) — the plan of the surroundings showing where the building sits — we mark two things: what can be seen from each unit and what can be heard from where. Courtyard (vnitroblok) versus street, north versus south-west, the third storey (podlaží) versus the seventh. These three axes then give rise to the price-list coefficients — not from a feeling, but from a pencil on the site plan.
The title block (popisové pole) of the unit sheet (karta jednotky) holds nine data items: the unit number (číslo jednotky), storey, layout, floor area, the area of the balcony or terrace (terasa), orientation, the parking space number, the cellar number and the price. Each of them will later be needed by someone — the buyer in the advert (inzerát), the attorney (advokát) in the clause on the subject of the purchase, the technician at the handover inspection (přejímka). A missing field is then looked up three times, and each time differently.
What can still be changed after the permit is issued
Layouts, practically not. Specifications (standardy), ancillary spaces (příslušenství) and the scope of client changes (klientská změna), yes — and that is exactly where it is decided how much freedom the project will offer and at what price. Ordinary structures have been handled under the new Act No. 283/2021 Coll., the Building Act (stavební zákon), since 1 July 2024, and in it the project permit (povolení záměru) replaced the pair of zoning decision (územní rozhodnutí) and building permit (stavební povolení). The Act sets the building authority (stavební úřad) a time limit for its decision, but the limit can be extended and, once defects in the application have been remedied, it runs again from the beginning (§ 196 of the Building Act) — so a reserve has to be left in the project schedule (harmonogram).
Who runs the sale of a development project: three models
In practice there are three models, and they differ mainly in who holds the price list and who holds the data on demand.
The developer’s own sales team. It makes sense for a company that builds continuously and therefore has something to keep a team busy between projects. The advantage is full control over the price. The disadvantage is blindness: the team sees demand for its own project, not for the market, and has nothing to compare itself with.
External sale of the project entrusted to one company. The price list is prepared by the sales partner and approved by the developer. The partner handles all communication with clients, keeps the record of units and is responsible for the pace. The fee is calculated from the sales volume, and because it is spread over dozens or hundreds of units, its rate tends to be lower than for an individual flat; the amount of the fee is a matter of agreement, and for development projects we do not state it publicly. This model is the subject of our representation of developers.
Non-exclusive representation by several brokerages (realitní kancelář). It looks like more channels for the same money. In reality it means three different versions of the price list in circulation, three answers to the same question about the date of occupancy approval (kolaudace) and no record at all of who has already spoken to whom. The buyer will verify this within a week and start bargaining on who will give them more. The project’s price is thereby opened not upwards, but downwards.
The choice between the models is not about trust, but about where the record of units is kept and who vouches for it. One price list, one source of truth on the status of units, one person who picks up the phone — that is the whole difference.
Pricing: the price list is a living document, not an annex to the contract
A project price list (ceník projektu) is not a single figure per metre. It is a base price per square metre of floor area multiplied by coefficients that correspond to what we had previously marked on the site plan: storey, orientation, view, the area of outdoor space, street noise. On top of that come separately priced ancillary spaces — parking space, cellar, front garden (předzahrádka).
Two rules we keep:
We raise the price according to the remaining supply, not according to the calendar. When three 2+kk units out of eighteen remain in a project, the 2+kk units go up in price. When fourteen 4+kk units out of sixteen remain, nothing goes up, and the question is why.
We give discounts not on the list price, but on the ancillary spaces. A discount on the price of a unit is public — it shows up in the Land Registry (katastr nemovitostí), and the next buyer will use it as an argument. A parking space or a higher specification thrown in does not show in the purchase price.
How much really hangs on the price list is shown by a simple calculation. A model project: 60 units, an average floor area of 58 m², i.e. 3,480 m² of saleable area (započitatelná plocha). At the average Prague achieved price (realizovaná cena) for a new unit of CZK 177,647/m² from the first quarter of 2026, that comes to:
3,480 m² × CZK 177,647/m² = CZK 618,211,560
1 % of the volume = CZK 6,182,116
For a project like this, one per cent on the price list is over six million crowns — a sum against which it is worth weighing the budget for the entire presentation of the project, including identity, visualisations, website and show flat (vzorový byt). That is why the price list is prepared earlier and for longer than anything else. We write in detail about coefficients and sales releases (prodejní vlna) in our note on pricing a development project.
The documents without which sales cannot start
The sales package has six parts, and none of them is “a nicer photo”.
Unit sheet. A floor plan with dimensions, the title block with nine data items, orientation to north. One sheet per unit, numbered identically to the owner’s declaration (prohlášení vlastníka). If the unit number on the sheet differs from the number in the future agreement, the sale stalls at the attorney, not at the buyer.
Site plan. The position of the building, the vehicle entrance, entrances, courtyard, greenery, surrounding buildings. From it the buyer reads what no text will tell them: where they will be looking and which way they will walk.
Unit table (tabulka jednotek). One file, all units, columns identical to the title block plus status (available — reserved — future agreement — purchase agreement (kupní smlouva) — handed over). This is the one source of truth, and no second one may exist alongside it. The status in it changes on the same day as it changes in reality — a table that is always updated on Fridays means that on Tuesday you offer one unit to two people.
Visualisations and numbered images. Interior and exterior, but above all repeatable: the same type of view of the same type of unit across the project, so that layouts can be compared.
Project brochure (expozé projektu). A document that both the developer and the buyer will open a year later and find the same things in. Specifications, areas, dates, what is included in the price.
Energy performance certificate. The owner hands the energy performance certificate (průkaz energetické náročnosti budovy, PENB) to the buyer at the latest when the agreement is concluded; the class already belongs in the advertising. Exceptions include, among others, buildings with less than 50 m² of energy reference area (energeticky vztažná plocha). Failure to comply risks a fine of up to CZK 200,000, for natural persons and legal entities alike.
What such a package looks like when finished can be seen in the projects we represent.
Launching sales: off-plan sale, releases and a pace that is measured
An off-plan sale (předprodej) is launched when a price list, the unit table and the unit sheets exist — not earlier. A listing (nabídka) that has no floor plans in its first month loses that month, and the second one will not be as strong.
Pace is measured from day one. The market sets the yardstick: in the first quarter of 2026, 1,800 new flats were sold in Prague, while roughly 5,450 were on offer. That is approximately three quarters’ worth of supply, i.e. about nine months of sales at the pace of the time. A project that sells markedly more slowly is not “just the market”.
At the level of a single project the same yardstick is calculated like this: the model project from the timeline below has 60 units that are to be sold out by occupancy approval, and 24 months from the launch of the off-plan sale to occupancy approval, i.e. 2.5 units a month. This figure is written into the plan, and every month the actual result is compared against it — not overall, but by layout.
Every week we track four things: the number of enquiries, the number of viewings, the ratio of reservations to viewings and the distribution of sales by layout. The fourth is the most important. When the 1+kk units sell out within a quarter and the 4+kk units stand still, the fault lies not in the advertising, but in the price-list coefficients or in the mix — and then the issue is not the advertising budget, but the rows in the unit table.
What we do when the pace falls behind
The order of steps is always the same, and price comes last.
First, an analysis by layout. We take the unit table, sort the sales by layout and storey and look for where they have stopped. As a rule it is not the project as a whole that is standing still, but one group — for example all the 3+kk units in the north wing.
Then the documents. Does that group have its own visualisation? Is it clear from the unit sheet where a person looks out to from it? With a north orientation it helps to add to the site plan what lies opposite; often it is a courtyard with mature trees, not a blank wall.
Only then the coefficients. When one group is not selling and the others are, the fault lies not in the base price per metre, but in the storey coefficient (koeficient podlaží) or the orientation coefficient. Adjusting a coefficient means repricing ten units, not sixty.
And only at the very end the base price — and only if the project is stalling evenly across layouts. A blanket discount is a one-off tool: it can be used once, and buyers who bought before it remember it for a long time.
The contractual chain and money in transit
A unit that does not yet exist is sold in three steps.
Reservation agreement (rezervační smlouva). It takes the unit off the market for a set period and sets out what happens to the reservation fee (rezervační poplatek) in both directions. The status in the unit table changes on the same day.
Future purchase agreement (smlouva o smlouvě budoucí kupní). Until the owner’s declaration is entered in the Land Registry, the unit does not legally exist and cannot be bought. The subject of the agreement is therefore its description: number, storey, floor area, share in the common parts (podíl na společných částech), ancillary spaces. Whatever is not in the description, the buyer does not get — which is why this is where the accuracy of the description and the sanction for an area deviation (odchylka výměry) are watched. The deviation belongs in the agreement as a number, not in words: what percentage is tolerated without any effect on the price, from what point the price is recalculated retroactively, and at what deviation the buyer may withdraw. Without those three numbers, every final survey on completion (dokončovací zaměření) turns into a negotiation.
Purchase agreement and registration. The purchase price goes into escrow (úschova) and is released against fulfilment of the conditions agreed in the agreement, not against a promise. An application for registration (návrh na vklad) costs CZK 2,000, the same in paper and electronic form. The cadastral office (katastrální úřad) may not approve the registration (vklad do katastru) before the protective period (ochranná lhůta) of 20 days under § 18 of Act No. 256/2013 Coll., on the Land Registry (katastrální zákon), has elapsed; according to the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre (Český úřad zeměměřický a katastrální, ČÚZK), the average time to complete a registration in the Czech Republic in August 2026 was 22 days.
One thing that catches buyers off guard and delays the developer: the project land is usually encumbered by a lien (zástavní právo), and the buyer will see it in Part C of the title deed (list vlastnictví). The future agreement must therefore include the seller’s obligation to transfer the unit free of the lien and a concrete mechanism for how this will happen — the consent of the lien creditor (zástavní věřitel) to the deletion (výmaz), or a release receipt (kvitance), delivered into escrow before the purchase price is released. The wording “the seller will arrange the deletion” without a document and without a deadline is not enough.
Real estate acquisition tax (daň z nabytí nemovitých věcí) has been abolished and is not factored in. Property tax (daň z nemovitých věcí) remains, however: whoever acquired a unit in year N files the tax return (daňové přiznání) by 31 January of year N+1. This belongs in the handover protocol (předávací protokol) as a single sentence, not in an email a year later.
Handover inspection and handover: where the sale really ends
The handover inspection is the last place where a well-delivered year can be spoiled.
The protocol must contain a sentence that says what will happen to a defect, and a date: “The defects listed under points 1–7 will be remedied by 30 November 2026.” Not “within a reasonable period”. Under § 19(3) of Act No. 634/1992 Coll., on Consumer Protection (zákon o ochraně spotřebitele), the seller must settle a consumer buyer’s complaint (reklamace), including remedying the defect, within 30 days of its being lodged, unless they agree on a longer period — and that is precisely why the time limit has to be decided before the first buyer stands in the doorway.
The protocol must further include meter readings with serial numbers (electricity meter, cold and hot water meters, heat meter), the numbers of keys and fobs item by item, the handover of inspection reports (revizní zpráva) and manuals, and confirmation of the handover of the energy performance certificate if this did not happen earlier. Without the meter numbers, the first statement of service costs (vyúčtování služeb) drags on unnecessarily.
The sales partner does not have to be at the handover inspection — and that is exactly why they should be there. A buyer who has spent a year communicating with one person will turn to that person with a defect, not to the technician. If they cannot find them on that day, the last impression of the project is “they sold and disappeared”.
Where our approach has a weak spot
We insist on one price list and one channel. In the first weeks this looks like fewer enquiries than for a project handed out to several brokerages. To a developer who measures success by the number of phone calls per week it will seem slow — and in the first month they are right.
We want to join the project before the documentation is complete and to have a say in layouts and ancillary spaces. For a developer who already has the permit in hand and is looking only for someone to sell, this is extra work they did not order, and a legitimate reason to choose someone else.
And a third thing that it is only honest to say out loud: we hold the price and would rather sell more slowly. A developer who needs to collect payments sooner will get more out of a discount at the start than out of our patience. For such a project we are the wrong partner, and it is better to find that out at the first meeting than in the twelfth month.
Project timeline: who does what in each phase
A model of a Prague residential project of 60 units; all dates are model dates. M0 = start of construction, negative months are before it. For a specific project it is mainly phases 2 and 6 that shift; the rest holds.
| Phase | When | What happens | Who leads it | What it produces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 · Study and market check | M−24 to M−20 | Checking demand for layouts in the given neighbourhood (čtvrť), rough mix, indicative price per metre | Developer and architect, sales partner as a challenger | Target unit mix and target average price/m² |
| 1 · Product definition | M−20 to M−16 | Freezing layouts, areas, specifications, number of parking spaces and cellars, ancillary spaces | Developer and architect with the sales partner | Unit table with areas and orientation |
| 2 · Permitting procedure (povolovací řízení) | M−16 to M−10 | Project permit procedure under the new Building Act | Developer and design engineer (projektant) | Permit for the construction |
| 3 · Preparing the presentation | M−10 to M−6 | Name, identity, visualisations, site plan, unit sheets, brochure, project website | Sales partner | Complete sales package |
| 4 · Price list and release strategy | M−7 to M−6 | Base price, storey and orientation coefficients, pricing of ancillary spaces, rules for price increases | Sales partner, approved by the developer | Price list v. 1 and release plan |
| 5 · Off-plan sale | M−6 to M0 | Reservations, future agreements, show flat on paper | Sales partner | Share of units reserved by the start of construction |
| 6 · Construction and ongoing sales | M0 to M+18 | Sales releases, price-list adjustments according to remaining supply, monthly report by layout | Sales partner with the developer’s technician | Meeting the plan of 2.5 units a month |
| 7 · Cut-off for client changes | roughly M+8 | Final deadline for changes to specifications, their pricing and sign-off | Developer’s technician | Signed change protocols |
| 8 · Occupancy approval and owner’s declaration | M+18 | Units come into existence as objects of ownership, entry in the Land Registry | Developer | Registered units with numbers |
| 9 · Purchase agreements and registrations | M+18 to M+21 | Escrows, deletion of the lien, applications for registration (CZK 2,000), protective period of 20 days, registration completed in 22 days on average (ČÚZK) | Sales partner with an attorney | Buyers’ title deeds |
| 10 · Handover inspections and handover | M+19 to M+22 | Protocols with a date for remedying defects, meter readings, keys, inspection reports, energy performance certificate | Developer and sales partner | Handover protocols |
| 11 · Aftermath | M+22 to M+34 | Defects under warranty (záruka), establishment and start-up of the owners’ association (společenství vlastníků jednotek, SVJ), sale of the remaining units | Developer and owners’ association, sales partner on the remaining sales | Sold-out project |
Two figures from the table are worth stressing. Between phase 0 and phase 5 there are eighteen months in which nothing was sold — and yet almost everything was decided in them. And between occupancy approval and the last handover there are four months that are easily underestimated in schedules, because registration in the Land Registry cannot be hurried, not even with goodwill.
Frequently asked questions
When should a developer approach a real estate partner? At the study phase, which in the model timeline is roughly two years before the start of construction. Later the price list and the presentation can still be influenced, but not the mix and the layouts — and those decide the pace more.
How much does an external sale of a project cost? The fee is calculated as a percentage of the sales volume, not per individual unit, and the rate therefore tends to be lower than for an ordinary flat sale. Its amount is a matter of agreement and varies with the size of the project and the scope of the service; for development projects we do not state it publicly.
Does it pay to give a project to several real estate brokerages at once? For an individual flat there is room for debate; for a project there is not. Several sources of the price list and of unit status mean contradictory information reaching the buyer and pressure on the price downwards, not upwards.
When can an off-plan sale be launched? As soon as the price list, the unit table and the sheets with floor plans exist — in the model timeline roughly half a year before the start of construction. Launching earlier without the documents means wasting the strongest months of interest.
What does a developer’s real estate partner do after occupancy approval? It manages the purchase agreements and escrows, keeps watch over the applications for registration, attends the handover inspections and sells the remaining units. Handing over the keys is not the end of the engagement, but the last phase, in which the reference for the next project is decided.
Key takeaways
Selling a project is a craft which, in the model above, means eighteen months of preparation and four months of administration, with the actual selling in between. The most expensive mistakes are made at the start, in the mix and in the price list, and no advertising budget can make up for them. A single price list, a single unit table and a single person who picks up the phone do more for the price than three brokerages at once. And the last mile — registration, handover inspection, a protocol with a date — decides whether the project will have a reference or just a sold-out table.
We represent developers across this entire scope, from product definition to the handover of the last unit.