This paper examines long-term trends in fertility and recent reversals in natural increase, net migration, and general fertility across residential contexts in the post-communist Czech Republic. Long-term differentials are analysed on the cumulative fertility of cohorts whose fertility was completed before and after the change in political regime in 1989. The results show important effects education and residential context (urban-suburban-rural gradient) have on the cohorts with (almost) completed fertility. For the youngest cohorts with incomplete fertility, the factor of timing, education, and residential context are the strongest predictors of fertility levels. Although the results based on 2001 Czech census data show relatively persistent patterns across the cohorts, trends in natural increase, general fertility, and net migration between 1991 and 2007 show a reversal of longstanding trends due to the recent increase in the process of residential suburbanisation. We suggest that the increase in the number of babies born in suburban areas (and therefore the higher natural increase and general fertility there) is due to the selective residential migration of young couples and results not just from the larger cohorts of potential mothers but also, possibly, from the higher fertility of new resident couples owing to their more reproduction-oriented values.

This paper describes changes in the housing market after the collapse of communism in Central Europe and analyses the current functions and perceptions of the private rental housing in the Czech Republic. It aims to understand why private rental housing is perceived as a sub-optimal housing solution for young adults, whether this affects their family plans, and which policy design could change that. The article uses qualitative research techniques to analyse mental frames, opinions, and attitudes of both potential tenants and landlords towards rental housing. The authors argue that the main problem of rental housing for young tenants is the short-term lease. Lack of mutual trust between tenants and landlords is a main cause of short-term contracts in the private rental segment. The insecurity it produces among young tenants contributes to delayed family formation. A policy tool aiming to overcome that distrust between tenants and private landlords through the involvement of an independent third party as a guarantor of the relationship is discussed.

The article examines the relationship between housing affordability and fertility in the Czech Republic after 1989. An analysis of national data suggests that improving housing affordability might be a factor behind the rise of fertility that has been observed since the beginning of the 2000s. The regional variation in fertility is generally lower than the regional variation of indicators of both housing affordability and the economic situation. Although the number of children born increased noticeably, total fertility did not increase at the same pace, and its regional patterns remained rather stable. The most important factor that infl uences the regional variation in fertility is the education of women, particularly young women. When the education of women is controlled for, housing affordability plays an important role in explaining the regional variation in fertility -both the total fertility rate and the timing of childbearing.