August brought an increase in the number of secondary market apartments offered in most major Polish cities. However, prices have not decreased everywhere. According to data from the GetHome.pl portal, the average price per square meter increased in Wrocław, Poznań, the Tricity, and cities in the Upper Silesian-Zagłębie Metropolis. Kraków saw a decrease, while Warsaw and Łódź maintained the same average price per square meter for secondary market properties as in July.
“Many potential buyers of used apartments have concluded that there’s no rush and have gone on vacation in August. When they returned, they likely noticed that there were more apartments on the market. The problem is that in some of the largest metropolitan areas, the cheapest offers have disappeared,” says Marek Wielgo, an expert at GetHome.pl.
After July’s stabilization, when for the first time this year, the average price per square meter of apartments available on the secondary market did not increase in any of the largest cities, August brought price increases in four out of seven metropolitan areas. Used apartments became most expensive in Poznań, where the average offer price per square meter increased by as much as 3%. In the capital of Wielkopolska, the threshold of PLN 12,000 per square meter was thus exceeded.
Prices increased by about 2% in cities of the Upper Silesian-Zagłębie Metropolis (PLN 8,600/sq m). Meanwhile, in Wrocław (PLN 14,300/sq m) and the Tricity (PLN 15,500/sq m), secondary market apartments became 1% more expensive. In the remaining metropolitan areas, prices remained at the July level – Warsaw (PLN 18,200/sq m) and Łódź (PLN 8,700/sq m) – or decreased by 1% – Kraków (almost PLN 17,500/sq m).
It’s worth noting that in Kraków, August was the fourth, and in Warsaw and Łódź the third consecutive month in which prices of secondary market properties did not increase. Unfortunately, in the Tricity, a series of three months without price increases was interrupted.
For the first three metropolitan areas, this is most likely the result of the growing supply of used apartments. According to data from the real estate portal search engine Adradar, the offer in the capital increased by as much as 5% in August, and in Kraków by 3%, and in Łódź by 2%. Meanwhile, the offer in the Tricity decreased by 2%. Interestingly, the selection of apartments on the secondary markets of Poznań (by 5%) and Wrocław (by 3%) also increased, but this did not stop the growth of their average price per square meter. “There can only be one explanation: relatively cheap apartments have disappeared from the offer, and those that remain have raised the average,” comments the GetHome.pl expert.
It is rather unlikely that sellers raised prices. According to Adradar data, at the end of August, there were around 176.5 thousand unique offers of apartment sales across the country, which is 12% more than in July. Since last December, their number has increased by as much as 43%. This indicates that there were more apartments that sellers introduced to the market than there were buyers for them.
In August, only 25.5 thousand offers were withdrawn from the secondary market, which is over a quarter less than the month before. Could this indicate a significant drop in demand for secondary market apartments? It’s difficult to say for sure, because sellers may have simply withdrawn some properties due to a lack of interest. On the other hand, August was a record month in terms of the number of apartments introduced for sale. It’s worth noting that since the beginning of the year, the leader in price increases has been the Upper Silesian-Zagłębie Metropolis, where secondary market apartments have become on average as much as 10% more expensive. Ex aequo behind it, in second place, with a 7% increase in the price per square meter, are three cities: Wrocław, Łódź, and Poznań. Meanwhile, in Warsaw and Kraków, used apartments have become more expensive by an average of about 5% since the beginning of the year. The list is closed by the Tricity, where the average price per square meter has increased by only 3%.
Despite very high price increases for secondary market apartments in the Katowice Agglomeration (GMZ) and Łódź, they still remain among the cheapest cities of all metropolitan areas. This is because there is still a high proportion of apartments in pre-war blocks and old tenement houses in the offer. It’s also worth noting that only in two metropolitan areas – Warsaw and Kraków – the average price per square meter of apartments on the secondary market is higher than on the primary market.
Just two months earlier, Wrocław and the Tricity were also in this group of cities. However, in both metropolitan areas, primary market apartments have become more expensive than secondary ones, hence this change. A similar phenomenon occurred in the remaining metropolitan areas. The exception was the Upper Silesian-Zagłębie Metropolis, where the average price per square meter of secondary market apartments increased much more than new ones this year.
