Reprivatization is in full swing. This is how many apartments were returned

Although many people associate the topic of reprivatization with the 1990s, it is still relevant. In recent years, municipalities continued to return apartments to former owners and their heirs. Experts from the GetHome.pl portal decided to check the scale of these returns and, importantly, how this housing reprivatization affects the current housing market in Poland.

Shrinking municipal resources

The housing stock of municipalities is systematically decreasing. The latest data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS) indicate that the number of residential premises from the municipal resource (including premises managed by municipal budget units) at the end of 2024 amounted to 755,689. Two years earlier it was 778,752, and at the end of 2016 – 868,517 apartments.

– The return of apartments to former owners is not the main reason for the shrinking municipal resources. Nevertheless, it is worth taking a closer look at the mentioned returns, because their total scale over the last few years is quite significant – notes Andrzej Prajsnar, an expert at GetHome.pl.

How many apartments were returned to their former owners?

Experts point to data from biennial statistical reports sent by municipalities to the Central Statistical Office. These documents concern the return of municipal apartments to former owners or their heirs. A summary of reports from the last two decades shows the following figures:

• 2002–2003 – 3,125 apartments

• 2004–2005 – 1,264

• 2006–2007 – 2,869

• 2008–2009 – 2,171

• 2010–2011 – 1,449

• 2012–2013 – 1,755

• 2014–2015 – 1,655

• 2016 – 627

• 2017–2018 – 709

• 2019–2020 – 461

• 2021–2022 – 580

• 2023–2024 – 417

– We can see that since the middle of the last decade, the scale of housing returns has decreased significantly. However, this did not have a significant impact on the size of the municipalities’ housing resources, which were shrinking mainly as a result of preferential sales of residential premises – emphasizes Andrzej Prajsnar.

Sales of municipal apartments in numbers

According to GetHome.pl experts, from 2016 to 2024, municipalities sold as many as 145,681 apartments, while the number of new municipal premises put into use was only 13,199.

– During the same period, the total number of municipal apartments returned to former owners and their heirs was around 2,800 – adds Prajsnar.

What does this mean for the housing market?

Reprivatization, although smaller in percentage terms than the sale of premises, still affects the availability of municipal housing, especially in larger cities.

The decreasing municipal stock, low growth of new apartments and preferential sales create pressure on the rental market and increase challenges for municipal housing policy.

As the data show, annual returns are small in relation to the entire resource, but for residents looking for a municipal flat, each returned flat can make a difference.