Monitoring housing markets - a chance for Warsaw?

A system that continuously monitors housing markets can be a highly efficient tool towards a functioning housing policy and as a basis for decisions of private market actors. Monitoring means to permanently combine, aggregate and process data from different sources in order to attain a reliable database, on which housing markets are analysed and future developments are estimated to assist housing market participants with a firm foundation to substantiate their actions. For a better illustration of the gains, requirements and functioning of monitoring systems, the example of the monitoring system of Dortmund, Germany, will be presented. On the outcomes of researching Dortmund's monitoring system, the chance of implementing and managing a monitoring system in Warsaw will be investigated. The article is based on the author's diploma thesis at the Faculty of Spatial Planning at the University of Dortmund, titled "A Monitoring System for Warsaw's Housing Market", written during a six-month lasting field study in Warsaw.