A Turnaround in Housing Prices. This Hasn't Happened in a Long Time

• The Monetary Policy Council has cut interest rates for the first time since October 2023. Further adjustments are expected.
• How will this affect housing prices? According to experts, prices will not rise dramatically in the short term.
• However, if demand recovers more strongly, we may witness a halt in price declines and a slight rebound.

As reported by "Rzeczpospolita", citing BIG DATA data from RynekPierwotny.pl, the real estate market is stabilizing, and the growth in prices of new apartments has slowed down. Thus, in the largest cities in Poland, the average prices of new apartments in April were as follows:

• Warsaw: PLN 17.8 thousand per square meter - 0.1 percent less than in March and 1.6 percent more than a year ago;
• Kraków: PLN 16,600 per square metre - 0.7 per cent more expensive than in March and 3.1 per cent more expensive than a year ago;
• Wrocław: PLN 14.8 thousand per square meter - 0.7 percent more expensive than in March and 9.6 percent more expensive than a year ago;
• Tricity: PLN 16,400 per square meter - 0.4 percent more expensive than in March and 9.6 percent more expensive than a year ago;
• Katowice agglomeration: PLN 11.2 thousand per square meter - 0.9 percent more expensive than in March and 5.3 percent more expensive than a year ago;

What about the secondary market? Here "Rzeczpospolita" refers to data from GetHome.pl.

The service indicates that in Warsaw, the average asking prices for premises in April were almost PLN 17.8 thousand per square meter, 4.1 percent less than a year ago. In Krakow, the average prices of apartments fell by 2.6 percent over the year, to PLN 17.1 thousand. In Łódź, premises became more expensive by 4.6 percent (the average price per square meter in April was almost 8.9 percent), we read.

Experts have no doubt that the first interest rate cut in a long time will affect the real estate market. - Deferred demand is high. This concerns people who, due to expensive and unavailable loans, could not buy a flat - explains Robert Chojnacki, founder of the portal Tabelaofert.pl, in an interview with the daily.

Rafał Bieńkowski from the Nieruchomości-online.pl portal believes that the decision to reduce interest rates is a signal that the housing market has been waiting for for months.

The interest rate cut may encourage some buyers who have been holding back due to high loan installments, he says.

He adds that the MPC's decision is unlikely to have an immediate impact on property offer prices. - Prices will not increase dramatically in the short term. There is a lot of competition, sellers have to adjust their prices to buyers' possibilities - he believes. However, he notes that if demand rebounds more strongly, "we may actually witness a halt in the price declines recorded today in some local markets, and then a slight rebound".

In his opinion, the key factors will be the next steps of the Monetary Policy Council , the real availability of credit and the possible launch of a subsidy program for the purchase of the first apartment.