Convergence of regional housing markets in Poland

The housing market plays an important role both in the social and economic life. Residential construction and the entire housing sphere have a fundamental effect on the standard of living of citizens and on the economic strength and development of the country. They play a tremendous role in: individual dimension – they satisfy basic human needs; community dimension – they provide a framework for basic social ties; material dimension – residential assets represent one of the most essential types of family, community, national and economic assets, whereas the housing sector is one of the most important components of the economic system, generating jobs, creating technical infrastructure and providing a foundation for the social infrastructure. In the process of integration of the European economies, one can see a growing trend towards the convergence of the housing markets. Two groups of factors have a fundamental impact on the convergence processes: Internal factors of a regional and national nature, mostly connected with historical conditions which determined the functioning of the housing markets, housing policy priorities, economic potential and investment attractiveness of the region and the country; External factors, including social and economic factors of international magnitude. They have their source in the progressing integration of the European economies and are accompanied by the free movement of capital, migration of human resources and unification of cultural models and lifestyles. The aim of the article is to assess the scope and scale of convergence processes in regional housing markets in Poland. Both the real and the nominal convergence are analyzed. The research on real convergence includes: ownership structure of the housing stock, the quantitative and qualitative structure of the housing stock, the level of unsatisfied housing needs. In a nominal dimension, the analysis of convergence relates to the level of residential property prices.