The first rental flats have just been completed in the residential complex on Petržalka’s Muchovo Square. (source: Miroslav Košírer)
Much of the attention around the re-opening in late 2023 of the iconic Salvator pharmacy opposite St Martin Cathedral in the old town centre of Bratislava was focused on the re-installation of its original precious 18th century baroque furniture.
But the fate of the rest of the neo-renaissance building it is situated in was unclear.
Earlier this year the city, which owned the building, announced plans to reconstruct 10 flats above the pharmacy and turn them into city rental flats.
“We are addressing the issue of (poor) affordability of housing in Bratislava systematically and are expanding the stock of city rental housing,” Bratislava Mayor Matúš Vallo told the Trend weekly. “Housing affordability is one of the most important factors in the success and development of any city.”
The city has embarked on a number of housing support measures. As well as refurbishing neglected city flats and building new rental flats, it has established a city rental agency to help people find affordable and stable housing.
Bratislava is the only city in Slovakia which has managed to agree with developers that in return for altering the zoning plan to widen a built-up area, ownership of a portion of the flats in any development they undertake will be transferred to the city.
The city further plans to join a state-supported scheme for the construction and administration of rental housing.
Lack of housing
While there is huge demand for city rental flats in Bratislava, supply is severely lacking after what critics say have been years of failure to address the issue.
City authorities manage about 860 city flats across Bratislava; more than a thousand more are owned by city boroughs. These include studio, one-room, two-room, three-room and four-room flats from approximately 40 to 80 square metres in size.
Rents are regulated and set below commercial rates.
“There are currently about 600 applications for rental housing,” said Peter Bubla, Bratislava city authority spokesperson.
Additionally, about 450 Bratislavans are waiting for so-called substitute housing. Bratislava City Council is obliged to rehouse those who currently live in flats that have been returned to their rightful owners as part of the process of post-communist property restitution.
