Barriers to the development of mortgage banking in Poland

In highly developed countries, the level of housing construction and real estate trade is an indicator of the state of the national economy and the wealth of the population. Housing investment, both the construction of new houses and the renovation and modernisation of old housing stock, is the flywheel of the entire economy. The problem of housing in Poland was first studied over sixty years ago, when E. Lipinski in his considerations. Lipiński emphasised in his deliberations the importance of the relationship between this sector and the economic situation. He was of the opinion that even a relatively small increase in the demand for housing results in an incomparably greater activation of production and employment of the national productive forces [Lipiński, 1937], which, given the current economic situation of our country, is particularly worth emphasising. It would seem, therefore, that under the conditions of a serious housing deficit such as we are facing today, mortgage credit as one of the fundamental sources of construction financing will be widely used. However, despite new legal regulations, this financial instrument plays a marginal role. This is the state of affairs not only in Poland, but also in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia [The Urban Institute, 1999, p. 17]. It follows that this problem may affect economies in countries that are just after or in the process of systemic transformation. In these countries, the basic conditions for the smooth operation of this financial instrument are not met, i.e. there are no relatively low interest rates, a stable rate of economic growth and the stability of the economy itself.