The residential dwelling`s rental market in Poland. Slow development

The “Housing economy survey 2013”, prepared by the Central Statistical Office in Poland provides that the dwelling stock in Poland counted at the end of December 2013 13,9 million apartments with a total usable area of 1012 million m2, where there were 52,9 million rooms. The number of households counted to 13,5 million. In the ownership structure most dwellings belong to natural persons - approx. 7.9 million out of housing associations, over 2.5 million to natural persons in housing associations, while in the stock of housing cooperatives - 2.2 million.The housing reform of 90-ies did not support development of specialized rental housing and led rather to privatization of the dwellings being earlier in state or municipal ownership, occupied by their tenants. The share of buildings constructed for rental purposes only is negligible. However, 16.6% of households rent dwellings from different building`s owners types. The dominant role on this market still play municipalities, which offer subsidized dwellings for low-income families (45.57%). The pure market driven rents are usually applied by the private owners or co-owners of buildings occupied by them also (25,48%).Ownership structure of rented dwellings in Poland 2011%Natural persons being owner of the building10,17Natural persons being co-owner of the building15,31Housing co-operatives3,00Municipalities45,57State Treasury8,14Enterprises, where tenants work8,48Social Housing Companies3,75Other entities2,11Not indicated3,47 100,00National Census 2011 data (www.stat.gov.pl )Most of dwellings have been constructed in Poland until 1985, according to the old energy performance requirements. To decrease the energy demand, several incentives for buildings owners are available in form of soft loans, subsidized by the state budget or ecological funds. However, the progress in this field is not sufficient in comparison to the renovation needs of the housing stock in Poland.