The challenges of Slovak rental housing policies in Solvakia in the broader context of Central Europe

Abstract

The fundamental transformation of housing sector (and the rental housing sector in particular) and housing policies that took place in the last 20 years in the Central Europe has been realized despite the fact that this agenda did not belong among the priorities of public policies. Nevertheless the availability of housing and housing conditions was not profoundly augmented and it is less favorable than in Western Europe. Many incentives and legal instruments approved by public authorities as well as the created institutions in Slovak Republic reflected the reality of emerging real estate markets, however the growing maturity of the housing markets, decreased their efficiency. In addition, nowadays it became clear that the development of housing sector poorly responds to current requirements of the growing economies, particularly in terms of creating conditions for labor mobility, social cohesion etc. . In this context it is particularly noticeable lagging development of rental housing sector. These facts are presented by the statistical figures and they represent the challenges for the future development of rental sector. The paper also draws attention to the alternative rental housing policies that have been adopted in transition Central European countries and in Austria. At the end of the paper the recommendation for the development of the rental housing sector in Slovakia in the broader Central European context in post-crises period are formulated.