Poland’s housing construction in the 1970s was twice that in 2010, market specialists have found, making 1970s communist party leader Edward Gierek the biggest Polish developer in contemporary history. According to statistics, in the 1970s more than 270,000 homes were built annually, with more homes constructed between 1971 and 1978 than in the past two decades.
The most popular homes currently on the market are near on 15 sq. metres smaller than those built nowadays by developers – also more in line with housing construction from the times of Gierek.
Forty years ago Edward Gierek became First Secretary of the Polish United Workers Party and remained in power until 1980. The seventies were a time of comparative affluence and modernisation in Poland, mainly funded by foreign loans, which eventually led to economic collapse, the effects of which some say are still felt today.
Nonetheless, statistics show that between 1971 and 1978, more than 2.2 million homes were built in Poland – not much less than over the recent twenty years.
Many of the 1970s high-rises were constructed of prefabricated blocks, however, some of the cheapest housing being sold on the market. In 2010, one in three homes bought in Poland were in blocks raised from prefabricated elements.
(ek/pg)