ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on two major cities, Budapest and Sofia, and on the issue of the development of the private rented sector. These two places encapsulate contrasting narratives about what happened during and after the communist period despite a common legacy built from late-nineteenth century industrialization; in 1939 private rented housing accounted for about 90 per cent of households in both cities. The chapter shows that what has happened to the historic housing tenure in the aftermath of the communist period. It presents evidence from an empirical study conducted in Budapest and Sofia during the late-1990s. In Budapest most of the accommodation was in the city periphery zone, and were small flats in medium sized blocks. Perhaps more importantly than the issue of private renting, the study indicated some of the social factors that were shaping the housing markets and wider society in two great European cities as they emerged from the communist era.
