This is no longer just the domain of the largest metropolitan areas. The price boom has moved to smaller voivodeship cities, with Olsztyn becoming the leader of surprising increases. With annual growth of 18.9% and a record average rate of PLN 13,256 per sqm, the local development market is outpacing larger centres and earning the nickname of a “small Tricity”. Such high average asking prices are becoming a new standard in regional markets. This is partly the result of rising land prices and construction costs.
Key Findings
Olsztyn recorded the highest price increase, at 18.9% year on year, among the 11 regional markets analysed.
At the opposite end of the ranking is Gorzów Wielkopolski, with a rate of PLN 8,924 per sqm. It is the only centre in the ranking below PLN 9,000 per sqm.
Buying an apartment in Olsztyn is becoming as difficult as in Warsaw. Taking local wages into account, a buyer would have to set aside 35% of their monthly salary for a record 17 years — the same result as in the capital.
Why Have Housing Prices in Smaller Cities Gone Up?
As Katarzyna Kuniewicz, Head of Market Research at Otodom, explains, the rise in average asking prices for new apartments to PLN 12,000–13,000 per sqm in smaller cities is primarily the result of rising construction costs and land prices, which are being pushed up by the spatial planning reform.
“There are two main factors behind this. First, higher implementation costs, which directly result from rising prices of building materials and higher wages in the sector. Second, the specific land situation. Smaller cities are facing weak demographic forecasts, which means that new general plans will probably designate less land for residential development than before. This may radically limit the future supply of land for housing, while already pushing up its prices today,” the expert adds.
It is worth stressing, however, that price growth does not mean that individual apartments are becoming more expensive month by month. What has increased is the average price of units currently on offer. This is mainly due to the fact that in recent months developers have introduced more expensive projects to the market.
Where Are New Apartments the Most Expensive — and the Cheapest?
Although attention naturally focuses on record-breakers, smaller voivodeship centres today show very different price dynamics. Among the 11 cities analysed in terms of average asking prices for new apartments, Olsztyn remains the most expensive, at PLN 13,256 per sqm. This represents double-digit growth of 18.9% year on year and 1.4% month on month.
The biggest market surprise, however, is the runner-up in the ranking — Szczecin. Although the average price per square metre there is as high as PLN 13,215, almost equal to the most expensive Olsztyn, the Szczecin market has taken the opposite direction. Year on year, asking prices per square metre fell there by 2.1%, while the average total apartment price dropped by as much as 7.2% year on year, to PLN 669,940.
The lowest prices in the Otodom ranking were recorded in Gorzów Wielkopolski, at PLN 8,924 per sqm. Importantly, this is one of the few smaller voivodeship centres where the last month brought a real decline, at 1.5% month on month.
Does a Cheaper Square Metre Mean a Cheaper Apartment?
There is an important paradox worth noting. The highest price per square metre does not always go hand in hand with the highest average total price of an apartment available on the market. The final purchase cost largely depends on the floor area offered by developers.
This is clearly visible in the case of Opole. The average total price of a new unit there is as much as PLN 720,460, even though prices per square metre are falling, down 5.5% year on year. This situation is mainly linked to the structure of the available offer. In Opole, the average floor area of a new apartment is the largest in the ranking, at 60 sqm. By comparison, the average size in Olsztyn is 55 sqm, while in Gorzów Wielkopolski it is just 47 sqm, which translates into the lowest total price in the ranking, at PLN 411,997.
What signals are coming from the middle of the ranking? In Białystok, where prices stand at PLN 11,475 per sqm, they increased by 6.7% year on year, but the last month brought a correction of 1.3%. At the same time, the city recorded a clear drop in the total asking price of apartments, down 2.5% month on month.
Similar trends can be seen in Rzeszów, where prices stand at PLN 10,936 per sqm. With annual growth of 4.6%, April brought a 0.6% decrease in the average price per square metre compared with March 2026. Against this backdrop, Kielce stands out for its stability, with prices at PLN 11,167 per sqm and equal growth of 1.2% both month on month and year on year.
Why Have Apartments in Olsztyn Become So Much More Expensive?
“Although the Olsztyn development market is relatively small, with an offer of around 650 units, its double-digit price growth dynamics closely resemble the situation in the Tricity. To answer the question of why the capital of Warmia and Mazury has become so much more expensive, two mechanisms should be indicated: first, new, clearly more expensive projects have recently been added to the offer, and second, at the same time we have observed a dynamic sell-off of apartments priced below the market average,” explains Katarzyna Kuniewicz, Head of Market Research at Otodom.
Customers are buying apartments at prices clearly lower than the average asking price, while sales volumes significantly exceed the number of new launches. Otodom data shows that since the beginning of 2025, 820 apartments have been purchased in Olsztyn, while developers introduced only 550 new units for sale over the same period. As a result, the total pool of available properties fell from 860 apartments in January 2025 to 620 in April 2026.
“This means that there are fewer apartments on offer, but they are more expensive than at the beginning of 2025. However, this is not due to price increases for existing apartments, but primarily to a change in the structure of the offer — new, more expensive projects are being launched for sale,” says the Otodom expert.
Wages Versus Prices: Where Is a Salary Worth the Least?
According to Statistics Poland data, the highest average gross salary among smaller voivodeship markets is recorded in Szczecin, at PLN 9,883. Meanwhile, in Olsztyn, which leads in asking prices for new apartments, average earnings stand at PLN 8,031 gross. This gap between wage growth and the pace of real estate price increases is key to understanding how difficult it is to buy a home.
With one average salary, a resident of Gorzów Wielkopolski can buy almost one square metre of a new apartment, around 0.9 sqm. A resident of Olsztyn, using their salary, can buy only 0.6 sqm of a new unit. As a result, housing affordability in Olsztyn has reached the same level as in Warsaw. This is not good news for residents of Olsztyn.
“Although average asking prices in the capital are much higher and are approaching the psychological barrier of PLN 20,000 per sqm, when local wages are taken into account, the purchasing effort is identical. In both cities, buying a home with an average floor area of 55 sqm requires setting aside 35% of monthly income for a record 17 years,” concludes Katarzyna Kuniewicz.
Source: Managerplus.pl
