Flatsharing in Slovakia is a common practice, especially in the big cities. Not only for students, but also for people with a steady job. Renting an apartment by yourself is expensive and often not affordable. “I spent a quarter of my salary on a 12m room which I shared with 2 people.”

Renting in Slovakia is an expensive business. The average monthly rent in Slovakia was in 2012 around 700,- euro, all inclusive, calculated the Statistical office of the Slovak Republic. The average nominal monthly wage of a Slovak employee was in the same year 805,- euro. For a tenant the majority of the wage was spent on the rent.

Milan Remac (35) discovered the high costs of renting when he moved for a job to Bratislava, the Slovakian capital, from the east of the country in 2004. For a year he shared a 12m room with two other people, forcing him to leave most of his clothes in his backpack. “You learn quite a lot about other people and especially yourself this way. It was a nice experience, but I will never do it again. Your privacy is completely gone. It is different when you do it during your studies. But having a job and sharing a room, it was just too much”. Renting an apartment on his own, however, was not possible. “It was too expensive. I spent already one quarter of my salary on that room.”

Although renting these days is still expensive for Slovaks, the numbers are slightly changing. The wages went up a little and the rent went down. In the first quarter of 2015 average nominal monthly wage was 839,- euro, while the average monthly rent was around 640,- euro. According to the OECD Slovaks spent around 26% of their gross adjusted disposable income on their housing. The average within the OECD is 18%.

For over ten years Juraj Martancik (33) has shared an apartment with other people in Bratislava. The income of his job does not allow him to find a place on its own, although for more than a decade he has a steady job. “If you live in a big town like Bratislava you must rent an apartment and share it with other people’’, he explains. ‘’Imagine that your parents live 500km away and you do not have the means, and they neither, to rent an apartment on your own. Unless you want to spend all your money on the accommodation, you must rent and you must share.’’ According to him there is no other solution. ‘’Otherwise you must go back to live with your parents. But going back is not an option, because of the lack of the jobs in other parts of Slovakia.”

Tomas Hodan (35) found another solution to cope with the high rents in Bratislava. He travels every day sixty kilometres from his home to the capital for his work. “Buying a small apartment outside of the Bratislava region was one of the few possibilities I had if I wanted to live without sharing a flat.”

In 2014 was around 10% of the Slovak population a tenant, while the remaining 90% was owner of its living place, says Eurostat. A Slovak person has on average 1.1 room at his or hers disposal, which is below the average of 1.8 rooms per person of the OECD. This might change as the Slovakian Government in its Programme statement for 2012 – 2016 intends to support accommodation and housing.