Magdalena Biejat, deputy chair of the Left Alliance and deputy speaker in the current Senate, has told the Polish Press Agency that her party is determined to press ahead with legislation to limit real-estate flipping.
A form of real-estate business found in many countries, "flipping" is also a significant area of business in Poland based on buying properties cheaply, renovating them and reselling for a profit.
One unpopular element of flipping identified in North America and the UK is being reproduced in Poland - gentrification. Flippers are said to contribute to the increase of prices in trendy districts which then become unaffordable to inhabitants who have lived there for a long time.
In Poland, this phenomenon is closely tied to the communist past where party connections or ideology meant that a central district in the city might be dedicated to party officials or factory workers. In today's free market this creates opportunities for flippers to raise the quality of centrally located real estate, buying them from lower-income residents who need the cash, renovating and then reselling to wealthier buyers.
Biejat repeats the accusations made in other countries that flippers contribute to rising house prices and the situation where property is unaffordable to first-time buyers in particular, without providing economic evidence, however.
Advantages and disadvantages of flippers have been listed in foreign press: while it is possible, for example, that an irresponsible flipper will attempt to increase the value of a property by cutting corners in building materials, it is also true that, other things being equal, raising the quality of anything in the economy will tend to increase its price. That seems to be an innocent aspect of economic growth.
Similar reviews have not found evidence that flippers are a major factor in rising house prices, as opposed to a general lack of property - as in Holland for example.
Biejat also suggested introducing an additional tax to limit flippers - a higher rate of tax for those who resell a property in a short space of time. This has been tried, for example by Justin Trudeau's Canadian government, with limited success.
Sources: PAP, FastCompany, pressprogress.ca
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