I would like to thank for substantial help, inspiration and many valuable comments to both content and the structure of the book prof. Peter Boelhouwer from OTB, Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. The results of several years of research presented in this book could not be achieved without close co-operation with my colleagues at the Institute of Sociology, Academy of Sciences, in Prague. My special thanks relates to Petr Sunega who in 2000 established with me the research team focusing almost exclusively on housing research; the field that needed substantial reform of perspectives in the Czech Republic after 1990. After several years of common hard work and mutual help we achieved the recognition of our research activities in domestic environment as well as abroad.

I should not forget to thank the management of OTB and the management of the Institute of Sociology, Academy of Sciences in Prague for excellent conditions allowing me to finish this book. The work on this book was especially supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, grant No. 403/09/1915 “Social Inequalities and the Market Risks Following from Housing Consumption. The Real and Desirable Response of State Fiscal and Monetary Policies.” Many thanks to my wife Lucie and to my children, Ondřej and Tat'ána, for their patience and support. I owe them a lot …

Martin Lux, Prague, July 2009