Is it worth waiting for housing prices to fall? This was the question posed by Marcin Piasecki, managing editor of Rzeczpospolita, as he opened the debate "Offer-Price-Accessibility: How Does the Developer Market Respond to the Housing Needs of Poles?" in Karpacz.
Iwona Sroka, a member of Murapol's management board, advised against waiting for prices to drop, emphasizing that the current offerings from developers are broad, diverse, and very attractive. She believes the current decline in housing sales due to lower credit availability is only temporary. "Therefore, if one has the ability and creditworthiness, one should not wait."
Market data supports the notion of a robust selection of flats. As Katarzyna Kuniewicz, director of the research department at Otodom Analytics, calculated, there are currently 52,500 units available from developers in Poland's seven largest cities, compared to 37,000 a year ago and 34,000 a year and a half earlier. Including the outskirts of large cities (known as 'obwarzanki'), the total offer comprises 75,000 units.
"Currently, we are also seeing a rare stabilization in residential prices, which are still lower in Poland than in Western and Northern Europe or the Czech Republic," noted Mateusz Bonca, president of JLL. He believes that the Polish residential market will not become cheaper in the coming years.
Katarzyna Kuniewicz pointed out that the last time it was worth waiting for prices to drop was in 2009, following the financial crisis. Since then, housing prices have generally been on the rise. She warned that postponing the purchase of a flat now in the hope of a price drop might backfire; there is no guarantee the desired flat will be cheaper or even available in a year or two. This is especially true as a new group of buyers has emerged in large cities - affluent individuals who can afford larger units with even higher loan costs.
