Real Estate /
Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]
Speaking about my own experience - I spent the first 10 years of my life in an "M3" - basically, a one-bedroom apartment, with a kitchen that when you wanted to walk in, someone else had to walk out... it was built in the 70s. my parents were happy with it because it had a balcony, and they only had to wait 2 years (!) for their allotment (przydzial). Then we got "allotted" an "M4." I remember that quite well - it was a big effing deal, almost a miracle, the family celebrated for like a week... The M4 had two bedrooms, some 50 square meters, and a kitchen that could actually accommodate a kitchen table. Ultimate luxury... There was also the case of our neighbor, who was a single man living in an M5 (unthinkable!), and half of the tenants circulated a letter to petition the "co-op" (spoldzielnia) to evict the guy, because he "didn't deserve" an M5, living by himself.
Then I came to this country, in my early 20s, and without much hassle I got an apartment of about 750 sf (some 70 square meters) with a club house, gym swimming pool, tennis courts, a shopping strip across the street, some 2 miles from a mall and 3-4 miles from an interstate. Without a "petition," waiting periods, connections, bribes, affordable on my f/t office work salary that was far from spectacular. Meanwhile, my peers "back home" were shacking up with their parents or grand parents with their spouses and young kids. Some of them still live with their parents, where the parents would occupy the first floor of a house and they would have the 2nd floor. My own cousin, who is about 27, is now in the process of majorly sucking up to my grandma, who is in her 90s, just so she can leave her the apartment. My high school friend lives with her husband and their twin boys in one bedroom, while their elderly aunt occupies the other room of an apartment in Warsaw, hoping she'll kick the bucket soon...
Do you have any idea how ridiculous this picture is, looking from here?
