Poland’s economy is threatened by a growing gap. We are the fourth worst country in the European Union
What should a person who wants to live in their own apartment do? The expert does not have good news.
– If we have the opportunity to buy an apartment that suits our needs, let’s do it. But often we don’t have that option and we have to choose between a bad option and a bad option. It’s a choice between an apartment that’s too expensive, too much for our budget or for which we won’t even get a loan, and an apartment that’s too small for our needs – says Prof. Adam Czerniak, an economist at the Warsaw School of Economics and Insight Policy.
During the Economic Forum in Karpacz, Prof. Czerniak presented the conclusions from the report on housing problems in Poland, which he prepared together with other scientists from SGH. One of the issues discussed in the report is the rent gap, which plays a key role in slowing down the country’s economic growth.
Why the rent gap is dangerous
This gap is the percentage of households that do not have sufficient income to purchase or rent an apartment on the commercial market, and at the same time their income is too high to qualify for housing assistance programs offered by the state, such as municipal, social or TBS housing.
In an interview with “Wprost”, Prof. Czerniak explained that the rent gap was created as a result of problems with the availability of apartments in Poland, which are too expensive both in the context of buying and renting. The situation is further exacerbated by restrictive rules for granting housing loans.
His analysis shows that the biggest problem with the rent gap concerns large families, especially those with three or more children, where as many as 66% of households struggle to meet their housing needs. In such cases, available apartments are often too small or too expensive.
The rent gap is growing again
Czerniak emphasized that the rent gap in Poland was decreasing in the previous decade (2011-2020), mainly due to demographic changes, such as the ageing of society and the decrease in the number of people in rural areas, which resulted in a decrease in overcrowding in many apartments. Unfortunately, in recent years, due to the sharp increase in prices on the real estate market (2020-2023), the rent gap has stopped decreasing and has actually increased.
