Housing affordability in Poland and its regional differentiation

Meeting the housing needs of households under free-market conditions is primarily determined by the relationship between their financial capabilities and property prices. The literature indicates that short-term declines in households’ purchasing power in the housing market confirm growing demand-supply tensions. In the long term, these dynamics justify the broader implementation of support mechanisms for households within housing policy. The aim of this article is to identify changes in the purchasing power of Polish households across 16 regional housing markets between 2003 and 2023. It also examines whether the differences in housing affordability between regions showed a tendency to decrease or deepen over the investigated period.