Trends in Central East European rented sectors

Abstract

This paper treats developments inCentral East European rented sectors. An effort ismade to relate these to trends in West Europeanrented sectors as well as to the accompanyingdebates. After the introduction of privatisation andrestitution policies, there has been a trend towardthe residualisation of the public rented sector. Theoutcomes show significant variation in the CentralEast European region.Two groups of countries were identified. The firsthas witnessed only a slight decrease in publicrenting and has retained a substantial co-operativerented stock. Together, these tenures compriseapproximately half of the total stock. The secondgroup experienced a very drastic decrease in publicrenting, dropping in most places below 10 percent.These countries also had a marginal or evennon-existent third (co-operative) sector and anundersized private rental sector. These occurrencesdistinguish this Central East European residualmodel from the Western residual model.It is argued that the tenure configuration of theCentral East European residual model is not stable.Because it is not sustained by a correspondingsystem of housing provision, significant changeswill probably occur. The key predictor of futuredevelopments is the ability of the states tointroduce innovative arrangements that wouldencourage diverse non-profit rental solutions. Thismight determine the direction in which privaterenting develops – towards a non-regulated or aregulated, corporatist system.