{"id":22341,"date":"2025-06-06T17:43:04","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T15:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/altax.al\/?p=22341"},"modified":"2025-06-06T17:43:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T15:43:25","slug":"albania-rising-in-the-air-why-we-need-a-new-social-pact-for-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altax.al\/en\/albania-rising-in-the-air-why-we-need-a-new-social-pact-for-housing\/","title":{"rendered":"Albania rising in the Air \u2013 Why we need a New Social Pact for Housing?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Albania, owning an apartment is not just a right\u2014it\u2019s a national fixation, a symbol of security in a country where the present always feels uncertain. But behind the glossy fa\u00e7ade of this \u201cAlbanian dream\u201d lies a sobering reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the continuous construction boom, housing is becoming a luxury rather than a basic standard of living.
Our main cities are filling with buildings while emptying of people. Speculation, lack of sustainable policies, and the imbalance between supply and demand have created a distorted housing market where property no longer serves the citizen\u2014it serves idle capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behind this construction rush, a silent housing crisis is deepening. It threatens to evolve into a social and developmental emergency, with the contours of a looming financial risk.
Signs of an overheated construction sector are no longer just warnings\u2014they are becoming reality[1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A construction boom without direction: The concrete ocean drowning livability<\/strong>
Over the last decade, construction has emerged as the most \u201cdynamic\u201d sector of the Albanian economy. But this dynamism is far from sustainable development. It\u2019s largely fueled by remittances, undeclared income, and money laundering\u2014not real market demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, building is guided by speculation, not social criteria. It does not occur where the need exists, nor does it serve those who need it most.
This has led to an overproduction of luxury housing for a fictitious market, while the shortage of affordable units has turned into a structural crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Housing has lost its social function. It has become a speculative instrument for accumulating wealth\u2014often illicit.
Thus, more construction no longer means more shelter. On the contrary, it deepens social exclusion by creating an illusion of growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The construction growth myth\u2014Who really benefits from the boom?<\/strong>
In our ever-changing urban landscapes, there is a massive mismatch between actual housing demand and supply.
We are building a lot\u2014but for whom?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investments are concentrated in the luxury segment, with prices that reflect neither real costs nor purchasing power. This is not just an economic phenomenon\u2014it\u2019s speculative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incentives are clear:
The absence of a real property tax on multiple dwellings encourages wealth accumulation. At the same time, the lack of market regulation fosters a \u201cfinancialization\u201d of housing\u2014where apartments are treated as the most profitable asset, not a human necessity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those Excluded from the Housing Market<\/strong>
In this model, youth without credit history, informal workers, and emigrants who send money but lack documented income are systematically excluded.
They are not invisible by accident\u2014they are left out due to the absence of inclusive public policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These citizens are being pushed not only economically but also geographically to the margins\u2014into peri-urban areas with no infrastructure, services, or future.
In a fragile economy with high emigration, this is a recipe for demographic collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skyrocketing prices, grounded wages\u2014A formula for class division<\/strong>
In a country where the average net wage barely exceeds \u20ac800, apartment prices have climbed up to \u20ac3,000 per square meter in urban zones.
This is an economic absurdity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Low monthly incomes clash violently with ever-increasing property prices.
Young people, new couples, and professionals are often forced into decades-long mortgages\u2014an insecure dependency that can span generations.
When a family must take on a 30-year loan for a basic apartment, they are not building a future\u2014they are locking themselves into a debt spiral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, a large part of the population\u2014without access to formal loans due to income insecurity\u2014remains entirely excluded from the system.
This is not just a market failure\u2014it\u2019s a failure of the state, which has never taken seriously its duty to ensure housing as a fundamental right.
Instead of a regulated market, we have institutionalized chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The economic reality of citizens simply doesn\u2019t match the housing market.
This is not just about financing\u2014it\u2019s about exclusion from the right to build a dignified life in one\u2019s own country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bank of Albania\u2019s signal\u2014Not a threat, but a warning<\/strong>
The Bank of Albania\u2019s decision to tighten mortgage lending criteria (via DTI[2]<\/a> and LTV[3]<\/a> limits) was perceived by some as a blow to aspiring homeowners. But in fact, it was a preventive step against a financial crisis like the one in 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping lending under control does not mean excluding the middle class\u2014it means avoiding a collapse that would later hurt banks, families, and the state alike.
Still, without state intervention in affordable and social housing development, the Bank\u2019s action remains isolated\u2014and potentially discriminatory for those without alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state must shift from spectator to actor<\/strong>
In a market that has lost its social compass, only the state can restore the balance between the right to housing and market interests\u2014through a well-organized intervention.
Not through vague promises, but with a National Housing Strategy that doesn\u2019t stay on paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such a strategy must include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n