Buying an apartment is a big event, especially when it involves spending a huge amount of money. For a unit of the same size in Poland you can pay completely different amounts, depending on the location. The differences are also significant among the seven largest Polish cities, where the price per square meter can be higher by up to 100% than in another town.
Unquestionably, the leader on the shameful list of the most expensive properties is Warsaw. In the capital, the average price per square meter on the secondary market is 18.5k PLN. All this despite a price drop in the city. The figure fell 0.2% in February on a monthly basis.
Read also: Secondary market apartment sales have stretched out significantly. Expert: “Finally the market has normalized”
Here you can buy an apartment much cheaper
On the other hand, price listings in the largest Polish cities are in Łódź, where it is still a little short of crossing the 10k PLN per square meter barrier on the secondary market. In the capital of the Łódź Voivodeship, the average price for a residential unit at the end of February was 8.8k PLN – according to data presented by the Otodom.pl portal. It is the cheapest city among the largest in our country in terms of property prices. A 40‑square‑meter apartment costs there on average 352k PLN. That amount is certainly not as shocking as the previously mentioned Warsaw, where a second‑hand apartment of the same size costs on average 740k PLN, almost twice as much.
Łódź is not the only large city in Poland where the average price of an apartment on the secondary market does not exceed the 10k PLN barrier. The next is Katowice. In the capital of the Silesian Voivodeship, the average price per square meter is 9.6k PLN, which, when buying a 40‑square‑meter unit, amounts to 384k PLN, 32k more than in Łódź.
The 10k PLN per square meter barrier has long been crossed
In the remaining largest Polish cities, the 10k PLN barrier has long been crossed. The closest to it is Poznań, where the average price for a used apartment per square meter is 12.1k PLN, meaning that a 40‑square‑meter apartment in the capital of Greater Poland costs on average 484k PLN. The next city in terms of prices is Wrocław, where the average rate is 13.5k PLN, which means that an apartment of the previously mentioned size costs on average 540k PLN.
But that’s nothing when we look at the next places in the ranking, i.e. the second most expensive in Poland Kraków and the Tricity, which occupies third place on this shameful list.
In the capital of Lesser Poland, the average price per square meter of a second‑hand apartment is 16.8k PLN. This means that a 40‑square‑meter unit costs on average 672k PLN there. In the Tricity, the average price per square meter is over 16.4k PLN. This means that a 40‑square‑meter apartment costs over 657k PLN in this region.
Although property prices in Poland are still rising, experts say the market has begun to normalize. And high prices allow for large negotiation possibilities, because the sale of an apartment on the secondary market has stretched out, so sellers may be more willing to lower the price just to get a client to decide to buy.
“In my opinion these negotiation possibilities will continue to grow. There is a double scale effect. First is the primary market, which constantly supplies goods. This makes some people start to wonder whether to buy an old 20‑year‑old apartment second‑hand or a new unit from a developer meeting contemporary standards? And additionally, you can now negotiate such a good price from a developer that it will be almost the same as on the secondary market. This makes some consumers in general reject the possibility of buying a used apartment and look only for offers on the primary market. On top of that there is a constantly rich secondary market offer. This makes clients say outright – we will not take just anything at a high price, because we have options to choose from” – said Tomasz Błeszyński, real estate market advisor, in an interview with FXMAG.
See also: House at apartment price! Expert: “It’s possible, but it depends on location”
