Situation of Housing Estates in the Housing Markets of Germany and Hungary

Abstract

Because of the destruction of World War II, and the declining number of house construction in the 30's and the 40's in the whole of Europe, there was a housing shortage. The situation after World War II resulted in the appearance of large housing estates in Europe. Housing estates cannot be considered as product of the socialist system since they can also be found in Western Europe though their significance and role differ from that of the former socialist countries. Housing estates on the housing market of Western countries are important, nevertheless they represent only a low proportion of the whole dwelling stock. The problems of housing estates in East-Central European countries are more serious, since the number of dwellings in housing estates and people living there goes far beyond the West-European scales. Through the comparison of the German and Hungarian housing estates this paper presents the main differeneces between the Western and East-European types of high-rise housing estates, their role, present situation and future perspectives on the housing market. Up to now, it became a fact, that the estate-life satisfies the claim of a determined class of the society. The question is what processes will start at the door of the new millennium; and what will be the results of these processes? What will be the destiny of those hundreds of thousands of people, living in the housing estates?