Transitions in land and housing: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Poland

Transitions in Land and Housing: Bulgaria, The Czech Republic and Poland describes the shift in control of land and housing from the public to the private sectors in these countries in the context of their transitions from communism to market democracy. Under communism, private markets, private ownership of productive assets, and landlord status were anathema.

With the post-1989 transition to market economies and democratic societies, major structural and legal changes have taken place in Central and Eastern Europe. Choices about purchase, use, and sale of land and housing are once again made largely by private owners, not the state. Real estate markets have been reestablished. Most people, as owners of property (farms, apartments, houses, shops, shares in enterprises), now have a stake in the system - but this transition is not without costs.

Housing construction has plummeted, some farm lands lie fallow, housing credit and farm credit rarely are available, and the poor and elderly fear loss of the social safety net.

Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Poland have responded to the challenges of transition in distinct ways, each state influenced by its pre-communist past and by the extent of its power under communism. Strong, Reiner, and Szyrmer provide us with the first comprehensive study of the role of real property in the transition process. Transitions in Land and Housing will be of great interest to students of planning, public policy, political science, international affairs, and Eastern European history.

Land policy research centers, here and abroad, will find it especially useful.