Adjusting Housing Policies in Slovakia in Light of Euro Adoption

House prices have risen strongly in past years, helped by rising incomes and declining interest rates.At the same time, construction of new dwellings has remained fairly muted and has only recently shownsigns of picking up. A characteristic feature of the Slovak housing market, and a consequence of theprivatization programme initiated in the early 1990s, is the virtual absence of a private rental market. Aseuro membership will most likely go along with easier financial conditions and also entails limitedavailability of national policy tools, current housing policies will have to be adjusted. The challenges are toavoid overheating of the housing market in the medium term, in part by making supply more reactive todemand, and to phase out the hurdles that are currently impeding the private rental market, which wouldfacilitate labour mobility.This Working Paper relates to the 2009 OECD Economic Survey of the Slovak Republic.