International advisory firm Cushman & Wakefield has published its latest analysis of the housing market in Poland. According to the report, the first quarter of 2026 brought a further recovery in demand, a strong increase in interest in mortgage loans and the continued high potential of future supply, visible above all in the number of building permits issued. Despite price stabilisation in some markets and clear differences in dynamics between the largest cities, data from the beginning of the year confirm the resilience of the residential sector in a less favourable external environment.
Solid Economic Growth and the Return of Credit-Financed Buyers
At the turn of 2025 and 2026, the Polish economy maintained a stable pace of growth. According to the latest available quarterly data from Statistics Poland, real GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2025 reached 4.0% year on year, with seasonally adjusted growth of 1.0% quarter on quarter. The structure of growth remained favourable from the perspective of the housing sector, with domestic demand playing a key role, including private consumption and investment supported by the launch of funds from the National Recovery Plan.
In March 2026, inflation stood at 3.0% year on year, remaining within the National Bank of Poland’s inflation target range, despite a marked monthly increase of 1.1%. Price pressure was concentrated mainly in transport and services, whose prices rose by 5.0% year on year, while goods prices increased by 2.2% year on year. Under these conditions, the Monetary Policy Council lowered the NBP reference rate in March by 0.25 percentage points to 3.75%.
The strongest signal of improving buyer sentiment, however, came from the credit market. In March 2026, the value of mortgage loan enquiries increased by 80.5% year on year, while the number of potential borrowers exceeded 63,000. The average requested loan amount reached a record high, exceeding PLN 500,000.
“The first quarter of 2026 confirmed that housing demand remains highly sensitive to signals from the financing market. Such a strong increase in credit enquiries shows that some households are accelerating purchasing decisions, treating current lending conditions as relatively favourable. At the same time, buyers’ decisions are influenced by concerns over future financing costs, inflation and further increases in housing prices. We are therefore seeing an active market, but one that is more cautious and more selective,” comments Tadeusz Bellaby, Junior Research Analyst at Cushman & Wakefield.
Primary and Secondary Markets: Strong Sales, but Different Price Dynamics
In the first quarter of 2026, construction began on nearly 31,000 apartments intended for sale or rent, which represents a slight increase compared with the previous quarter but a decline year on year. According to Otodom data, at the end of March 2026 around 58,900 apartments remained available on the primary market in Poland’s seven largest cities. Sales amounted to approximately 13,200 units, while a clear acceleration in activity in the following months of the quarter culminated in a record-breaking March.
On a quarterly basis, the highest increases in asking prices for new apartments were recorded in Warsaw and Gdańsk, both up by 5% quarter on quarter. Katowice was the only analysed market to record a decline in primary market prices, down by 2% quarter on quarter, while in other cities price growth was limited and stood at 0–1% quarter on quarter.
Year on year, new apartment prices rose the most in Gdańsk, by 20%, and Warsaw, by 12%. Łódź recorded an 8% increase, Poznań 5%, Wrocław 4% and Kraków 2%. Katowice remained the only market with a decline in asking prices for new apartments, down by 1% year on year. In nominal terms, the highest prices are still seen in Warsaw at PLN 19,253 per sqm, Gdańsk at PLN 18,315 per sqm and Kraków at PLN 16,665 per sqm. Łódź remains the cheapest market, at PLN 11,388 per sqm.
On the secondary market, the first quarter of 2026 brought stabilisation in asking prices, with minor local adjustments. Moderate quarterly increases were recorded in Gdańsk, where prices reached PLN 16,942 per sqm, up by 1% quarter on quarter; Katowice, at PLN 9,612 per sqm, up by 1%; Łódź, at PLN 8,758 per sqm, up by 1%; Poznań, at PLN 12,237 per sqm, up by 1%; and Wrocław, at PLN 13,546 per sqm, up by 2%. In Warsaw, at PLN 18,526 per sqm, and Kraków, at PLN 16,731 per sqm, average prices remained stable compared with the previous quarter.
The current situation points to the consolidation of a “soft landing” scenario for the secondary market. Prices remain relatively resistant to corrections, but their further growth is limited by competition from the primary market, the high supply of developer apartments, selective demand and buyers’ increasing sensitivity to standard and location.
Supply and Apartments Under Construction: Developers Maintain High Activity
In the first quarter of 2026, developers completed 26,000 apartments intended for sale or rent, which represents a decline compared with the same period in 2025. Despite the lower quarterly result, the scale of completed projects remains high by historical standards, following a period of elevated developer activity in 2020–2022.
At the same time, in the first three months of 2026, developers obtained building permits for nearly 46,000 apartments, an increase of around 11% compared with the first quarter of the previous year. Since 2021, building permits have been issued for more than one million apartments in the sale and rental category.
At the end of 2025, Poland’s housing stock exceeded 16.1 million units. Since 2021, more than 700,000 apartments intended for sale or rent have been completed. The average size of an apartment completed in the first quarter of 2026 was 63 sqm, representing an increase of 2% both quarter on quarter and year on year.
“Supply data show that developers remain active, although the market has entered a phase of greater caution. The number of permits issued indicates that significant future supply potential is being maintained, while decisions to launch new projects will depend on the pace of sales, financing costs and the overall macroeconomic situation. The high number of apartments on offer and developers’ greater willingness to offer discounts, especially in the second part of the quarter, are creating conditions for a more balanced market, in which well-prepared projects that correspond to customers’ real purchasing capacity gain an advantage,” comments Ewa Derlatka-Chilewicz, Head of Research at Cushman & Wakefield.
Poland on the European Rental Map
After a period of very dynamic rent increases, Poland’s residential rental market has entered a phase of stabilisation. Year-on-year rental growth stood at 0%, marking a clear slowdown after the large increases observed in recent years. Over a five-year period, however, rents in Poland rose by as much as 60%, more than twice the European Union average of 27%.
The highest five-year increase in rents in Europe was recorded in Hungary, where rents rose by 118%, largely due to very high inflation. Finland was the only country to record a decline in rents, down by 9%. Despite high percentage growth, Central and Eastern Europe still has lower nominal rent levels than Western European markets.
London remains the most expensive rental market in Europe. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the city centre is EUR 2,772, or around PLN 11,730, while outside the centre it is EUR 2,019, or around PLN 8,540. High rent levels are also recorded in Zurich and Amsterdam. The cheapest rental apartments can be found in Riga and Bucharest, where rents for two-bedroom apartments in the city centre average below EUR 600, or around PLN 2,540.
Warsaw occupies a position close to the EU average, offering two-bedroom apartments at around EUR 1,045, or approximately PLN 4,420, in the city centre and around EUR 794, or approximately PLN 3,360, outside the centre. In Poland, the capital remains the most expensive location. The median rent for a studio apartment is around PLN 2,600, while an average four-room apartment costs around PLN 7,400 per month. In Gdańsk, the median rent for a studio apartment in the first quarter of 2026 was PLN 2,300. The cheapest large cities remain Katowice and Łódź, where the median rent for a studio apartment was PLN 1,850 and PLN 1,750, respectively.
For new apartments built after 2010, rent levels remain clearly higher. In Warsaw, the difference is typically between PLN 100 and PLN 400 per month.
PRS: Market Exceeds 24,000 Units as Vantage Rent Finalises the Largest Transaction in the Sector’s History
In the first quarter of 2026, the number of rental units in Poland’s private rented sector exceeded 24,000, with the largest metropolitan areas continuing to dominate. Warsaw remains the market leader, accounting for around 34% of the operational stock of institutional rental apartments.
Investor activity remains high. More than 5,500 PRS apartments are currently under construction, including 1,600 in Gdańsk alone. Over the next five years, projects under construction and planned developments could bring another 14,000 units to the market, although the actual scale of supply will depend primarily on the macroeconomic environment, financing conditions and investor strategies.
TAG Immobilien AG remains the most active investor in Poland’s PRS market. In May 2026, Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection approved the acquisition by Vantage Rent, operating within TAG Immobilien AG, of the Resi4Rent portfolio comprising 5,322 rental units across 18 projects located in Poland’s largest cities. This decision opens the way for the completion of the largest transaction in the history of Poland’s PRS market, valued at around EUR 565 million, or approximately PLN 2.4 billion. According to the schedule, the deal is expected to close 10 days after the UOKiK decision. Once finalised, Vantage Rent will have a portfolio of more than 9,000 rental units, equivalent to around 40% of the entire PRS sector in Poland.
The sector is also being affected by changes in the strategies of individual investors. One example is Heimstaden Bostad, which decided to sell more than 1,800 PRS apartments to individual buyers, significantly reducing the institutional rental stock.
“The PRS sector in Poland remains small in relation to the overall rental market, but its importance is gradually growing. The first quarter of 2026 shows both continued investor activity and the high sensitivity of this segment to strategic decisions made by the largest players. The market is clearly concentrated, and the scale of future growth will depend on the availability of financing, the cost of capital and whether investors maintain long-term commitment to building rental housing portfolios. Planned and ongoing projects may significantly increase PRS stock in the coming years, but the sector’s development path will remain dependent on the stability of the macroeconomic environment,” concludes Karolina Furmańska, Associate, Living Sector at Cushman & Wakefield.
