Statistics Poland data for January to May 2026 paint a mixed picture of Poland’s housing market. On the one hand, the number of building permits issued increased by more than 16% year on year and reached its highest level since 2024. This is a clear sign of growing planning activity among investors, particularly property developers, which obtained as many as 22% more permits than a year earlier.
On the other hand, greater readiness to act at the administrative stage has not yet translated into the launch of new projects. The number of homes where construction has begun remains almost unchanged from a year earlier, while the number of units completed and delivered for use continues to decline. Individual investors are the positive exception, recording modest but consistent growth across all three key categories. The situation is analysed by Katarzyna Kuniewicz, Director of Market Research at Otodom.
According to the latest Statistics Poland data, 15,300 homes and apartments were completed in Poland in May 2026. This was 3.7% more than in May 2025, but 0.6% less than in the previous month.
Within this total, property developers delivered 9,500 units, representing an annual increase of nearly 2% and a slight month-on-month decline. Individual investors, meanwhile, completed 5,300 homes, up 5.7% from a year earlier.
The cumulative results for the first five months of the year confirm the continued stagnation in this segment. Between January and May 2026, a total of 76,200 homes and apartments were completed across Poland, down 0.5% compared with the same period of 2025.
This is the second consecutive year in which the five-month result has remained below 77,000 units. By comparison, during the record year of 2023, nearly 93,600 homes were completed over the same period — more than 20% higher than this year’s figure.
There are, however, many indications that the number of homes completed will increase in the coming months. The basis for this expectation is the large number of projects launched in 2024, primarily by property developers. The slowdown in sales observed in the primary housing market in 2024 and the first half of 2025 clearly extended construction timelines.
More than 150,000 homes and apartments whose construction began in 2024 should gradually translate into a higher number of completions. As a result, performance in this category in the second half of the current year may be noticeably stronger than in the first five months.
Developers accounted for 60% of all homes completed in the first five months of 2026. In cumulative terms, they delivered 45,700 units. This was more than 2% lower than a year earlier and at the same time the lowest result in six years.
It is worth noting, however, that data from the most recent months, from March to May, point to gradual stabilisation. According to Otodom’s forecasts, the number of homes delivered by developers may be clearly higher in the months ahead.
Individual investors performed better against this backdrop. They completed 28,700 units, an increase of 2.7% year on year. Their share of the total number of homes and apartments completed rose to 37.7%.
Building permits provide the strongest positive signal
The clearest positive signal from Statistics Poland’s data for January to May 2026 is the number of building permits issued. Across all investor groups, permits were granted for a total of 119,900 homes and apartments, up 16.3% year on year.
This result was almost identical to the corresponding period of 2024, when permits were issued for 119,600 units, and clearly better than last year’s figure of 103,100. In May alone, 23,700 permits were issued. This represented a 13% increase year on year, although it was 13.8% lower than the exceptionally active month of April.
Property developers remained the main driver of growth in the permits category. In the first five months of 2026, they obtained 79,500 building permits, an impressive 21.7% increase compared with a year earlier.
For comparison, developers received only 65,400 permits in the corresponding period of 2025. This year’s result is therefore not only clearly stronger than last year’s, but is also approaching the levels seen in 2021 and 2022.
Individual investors were also more active than a year earlier. They obtained 36,900 building permits, representing annual growth of 10%.
Construction starts remain subdued
Against the optimism visible in the permits segment, data on actual construction starts are disappointing. In May 2026, all investor groups began construction on 20,400 homes and apartments. This was 6.9% more than in May 2025, but 18.2% less than in the particularly active month of April.
Between January and May 2026, a total of 94,700 projects were launched. This was almost identical to the 94,900 homes and apartments started a year earlier, representing a year-on-year decline of 0.2%.
The key observation is the widening gap between the scale of permits obtained and the actual launch of new investments. In the first five months of 2026, the difference between the number of permits issued, at 119,900, and construction starts, at 94,700, exceeded 25,000 units.
This means that one in five permits issued has not yet translated into the start of a project. By comparison, in the same period of 2025, the surplus amounted to only around 8,000 units, or approximately 8% of deferred permits.
The trend is especially pronounced among property developers. They obtained permits for 79,500 units, while starting construction on only 58,000. The gap therefore exceeds 21,500 homes, meaning that one in four permits obtained by developers has not yet resulted in construction work starting.
This can be interpreted as a sign of caution among developers. Companies are building up permit inventories and expanding their project and land banks, with the intention of launching projects when sales conditions become more favourable. Decisions to begin further developments may also be affected by construction-material costs that remain higher than a year ago, as well as regulatory uncertainty linked to energy prices.
Individual investors maintain steady growth
Individual investors, meaning households building for their own needs, are behaving differently. Their construction-start activity is increasing slowly but consistently. In the first five months of 2026, they began building 34,500 houses and apartments, up 2.5% year on year.
This was the best result in this segment since 2021. Individual housing construction, by nature less exposed to short-term market fluctuations than the developer sector, has maintained a stable upward trend for the third consecutive year.
Outside the main trends, there are also early signs of recovery in the social and rental housing segment. In the first five months of 2026, permits were issued for 2,300 homes in this category, while construction started on 1,400 units. This represents an increase of 29% year on year.
Although the scale of this segment remains small relative to the overall market, the upward trend is consistent with the government’s stated housing-policy priorities, which aim to increase the availability of rental housing.
It is estimated that, at the end of May 2026, 857,300 homes and apartments were under construction, 0.5% more than a year earlier. This is a positive signal for future supply. The number of projects in preparation and under construction remains relatively high.
Should the accumulated permits translate into construction starts, they could provide the foundation for a gradual improvement in the number of homes completed over the coming years.
