Rental housing in the Slovak Republic, its current status and perspectives

Abstract

The current state of housing solutions in the Slovak Republic results from a complex historical development in an environment of different economic and political conditions. Before 1989, the entire system of financing construction was based on a planned management system of the national economy. The state was fully involved in financing construction within the framework of the comprehensive housing construction system.
Thus, housing care and responsibility for housing was essentially a matter for the state. The privatisation of the housing stock in the 1990s completely rewrote the concept of housing – Slovakia became a country of ‚owners‘, and the responsibility for housing was transferred from the state to the citizen. Available statistics show that only 10% of our population rent their homes, of which less than 6% are rented apartments, and only about 3% are rented under the so-called preferential regime. This unflattering situation has been a long-standing demand for a solution, but despite the strategies proclaimed and the concepts adopted, success has been achieved more formally than realistically. Adopting the 2022 Law on State Support for Rental Housing could move things forward. Still, since its implementation depends on political priorities, and these are likely to change again in the near future, its effectiveness, as measured by the achievement of concrete results, is questionable.