After a period of significant volatility caused by the pandemic and a market correction in 2023–2024, Poland’s investment land market entered a phase of stabilization in 2025. Residential developers faced growing difficulties acquiring plots in attractive locations, while investments in data centers and energy storage facilities began to play an increasingly important role. The market underwent structural changes: the era of mass purchasing of construction land came to an end, and interest in large shopping malls declined significantly. Proximity to highways also ceased to be the decisive factor it once was. In sectors related to energy and digital infrastructure, the most valuable resource has become grid connection capacity. All indications suggest that in 2026 access to energy infrastructure will be the key factor influencing land valuations.
According to 2025 data, the Polish economy recorded GDP growth of approximately 3.4%, in line with forecasts by EY and the European Commission. As Mariusz Urbański, an analyst and long-time real estate market expert at INWI Development, explains, declining inflation provided some relief. However, the high cost of capital in the first half of the year continued to limit speculative activity. Instead of aggressively expanding land banks, investors adopted a “wait-and-see” strategy or focused on core assets in the largest urban markets.
“Last year in the residential sector was marked by further polarization,” Urbański notes. “According to Statistics Poland (GUS), the number of housing starts in the first three quarters of 2025 fell by about 8.5% year-on-year. This was a direct consequence of developers’ cautious approach and the limited supply of plots with a clear legal status.”
In Urbański’s view, one of the most important developments was the continued increase in asking prices for development land—even amid a slowdown in the housing market. “Recent reports show that investment land prices remain relatively resilient to the economic cycle and are rising primarily due to the shortage of plots with clear planning status—so-called ‘clean land’—as well as expectations related to the planned reform of spatial planning in Poland,” the market expert explains.
According to industry analysts, even with reduced development activity, demand for well-located plots—particularly in regional capitals—continues to exceed supply. The effect is particularly visible in major metropolitan areas such as Warsaw, where dozens of transactions involving both domestic and international investors confirm the trend of moderate price growth and strong competition for prime parcels.
“Notably, land designated for multifamily housing in Warsaw, Kraków, and the Tri-City reached record valuations in 2025. In the capital, average transaction prices in prime districts often exceeded PLN 3,000–5,000 per square meter of usable residential floor area (PUM). In the largest metropolitan markets, the share of land costs in the final apartment price approached 20–25%,” Urbański adds.
This segment remained among the most active parts of the market despite the slowdown in apartment sales. Investors point to the limited availability of well-prepared plots—so-called clean land with approved local zoning plans. “This continues to support price pressure both in asking prices and in actual transactions. Developers increasingly turned to the revitalization of post-industrial sites, despite higher remediation costs, because greenfield plots within city limits have become scarce,” explains the INWI Development expert.
It is also worth noting that after several years of rapid expansion, the logistics land market entered a phase of maturity in 2025. According to reports from AXI IMMO and JLL, the supply of new warehouse space slowed, while the market focused on absorbing existing stock, with vacancy rates around 8.2%. Prices for logistics land stabilized, and in less strategic locations slight corrections were even observed. However, the so-called “Big Six” logistics hubs—Warsaw, Upper Silesia, Central Poland, Wrocław, Poznań, and the Tri-City—maintained high land valuations.
“A key trend in 2025 was nearshoring, the relocation of production closer to end markets,” Urbański explains. “This increased demand for land designated for BTO (Build-to-Own) facilities for manufacturing companies, particularly in western and southern Poland. This is confirmed by the growing number of announcements regarding new industrial investments.”
In contrast, the past year saw virtually no land transactions for large-scale shopping malls in major cities. The retail land market shifted toward county-level towns and smaller municipalities, particularly those with populations below 20,000.
“Developers were actively searching for 1–2 hectare plots for retail parks, known as convenience centers,” Urbański says. “Such plots must offer excellent visibility and direct access from national or regional roads. Prices in this segment remained stable, but competition for the best corner locations in smaller towns was intense throughout 2025.”
Two sectors in particular began to reshape the rules of the market: digital infrastructure and energy storage. Poland strengthened its position as a data center hub in Central and Eastern Europe, driven by the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and cloud computing services. In this segment, the key criterion was not the price per square meter but the availability of grid connection capacity—often tens of megawatts—as well as access to fiber-optic networks.
“Warsaw and its surrounding areas remained the absolute leader, accounting for roughly 80% of the market, although investors increasingly began looking at Poznań and Katowice due to power supply constraints in the Mazovia region,” Urbański notes. “According to PMR reports, the capacity of data centers in Poland could double by 2030. In 2025 this drove speculative acquisitions of land secured with grid connection conditions.”
The market for land designated for large-scale energy storage experienced particularly strong growth in 2025, stimulated by the need to stabilize renewable energy systems.
“Unlike photovoltaic farms, energy storage facilities do not require vast areas of land—often just 0.5 to 2 hectares,” Urbański explains. “However, they must be located near major power substations (GPZ). Plots situated within a 500-meter radius of such substations gained premium status. Investors such as Enea and private funds actively searched for land classified as agricultural classes IV–VI, offering owners attractive lease rates—often higher than those available for photovoltaic projects—provided that grid connection conditions could be obtained.”
In summary, 2025 on the Polish investment land market can best be described as a year of “selection.” The era of purchasing any plot simply because it carried a building designation has ended. In the residential sector, land prices continued to rise in regional capitals. In logistics, prices stabilized. Meanwhile, in energy and digital infrastructure projects, grid connection capacity became the decisive factor—the new currency of the land market.
Looking ahead, access to energy infrastructure is expected to become the primary driver of land values. For landowners, this means that increasing the value of their property will require more than simply changing its zoning status; it will increasingly depend on securing access to utilities and energy infrastructure with the appropriate technical parameters.
