Flat prices in Katowice (first quarter of 2015)
Text from 2015. Laws, rates and prices may have changed since then. Ask an agent
Analysing the Katowice property market, one can see that flat prices are trending upwards. If you compare current property prices with those of previous years, you can clearly see that the cost of a property is now considerably higher.
As the data below, prepared by the National Bank of Poland, show, the average asking price is stable on both the secondary and primary markets. This is unlike the average transaction price, which, as the data below show, keeps rising. The higher value of this variable is a result of the current market situation. To simplify, buying a higher-standard flat in Katowice is attracting growing interest, which is why developers are successfully raising prices.
Average asking and transaction prices of flats on the primary market in Katowice [PLN/m2]
Source: Flash information from the National Bank of Poland Regional Branch in Katowice, Statistics and Foreign Exchange Department, The residential property market in Katowice and in selected cities of the Silesian agglomeration – Q1 2015.
Average asking and transaction prices of flats on the secondary market in Katowice [PLN/m2]
Source: Flash information from the National Bank of Poland Regional Branch in Katowice, Statistics and Foreign Exchange Department, The residential property market in Katowice and in selected cities of the Silesian agglomeration – Q1 2015.
The above analysis confirms the current situation on the Polish property market, which is quite favourable for developers. According to the data, in the past year developers applied for building permits for about eighty thousand residential buildings. The number of construction starts, meanwhile, was as high as seventy-seven thousand. For comparison, the year before it was only sixty thousand residential units. Both results are the highest in recent years, which only confirms that the development sector is growing very fast. What is more, nothing suggests that the next quarter will bring lower profits than now. One can rather conclude that investing in new property will remain profitable.
Flat for the Young
The rise in transaction prices and the demand on the primary property market are linked to the government's "Flat for the Young" (Mieszkanie dla Młodych, MdM) programme. Thanks to the project, the government was able to support buyers by subsidising property on the primary market, mainly by lowering loan interest rates.
The government programme made possible as many as 831 loan agreements in the Silesian Voivodeship, which is 4.1% of agreements concluded in Poland. The total value of subsidies to loan agreements on the Silesian market was 16.7 million PLN. According to forecasts, interest in MdM should grow, all the more so because in June 2015 the government decided to extend the "Flat for the Young" programme to the secondary market as well.
Another factor which to some extent contributed to the rise in primary-market flat prices was the introduction of new obligations for developers under the act of 25 December 2014. From 2015 the developer is obliged to provide full information about the flat being sold, including a description of all the features of the property, the purposes for which the unit is to be used, and even its maintenance plans. In addition, the developer must describe the company's business in detail. As a result of the regulation prices have gone up, although thanks to the new act buyers are much better protected against fraud or oversight by third parties.
Prices in Katowice and the Katowice Agglomeration
In which areas of Katowice do primary-market listings predominate, and in which secondary-market ones? Newly built units dominate on the Ignacy Paderewski–Muchowiec estate, particularly in the Valley of Three Ponds (Dolina Trzech Stawów) on ul. Kościuszki and ul. Mikołowska. On the Tysiąclecia estate, in Ligota, Bogucice and Piotrowice, by contrast, secondary-market listings predominate. The only area where we will find a similar number of listings from both the primary and secondary markets is Śródmieście. Interestingly, prices of both new and old buildings are fairly even here, averaging 3,471 PLN per square metre.
Average asking and transaction prices of flats on the primary and secondary markets in Katowice:
Source: Flash information from the National Bank of Poland Regional Branch in Katowice, Statistics and Foreign Exchange Department, The residential property market in Katowice and in selected cities of the Silesian agglomeration – Q1 2015.
On the Silesian property market, Katowice is among the cities where average transaction prices are highest, reaching over 3 thousand PLN per square metre. The situation is similar in Tychy. In the Katowice agglomeration, on the other hand, property is cheapest in Bytom. The price is admittedly higher than in previous months, but still low compared with other areas, as in Bytom you have to pay a little over 2 thousand PLN per square metre. Prices are slightly higher in Czeladź, Piekary Śląskie, Zabrze and Ruda Śląska.
Average asking and transaction prices of flats on the secondary market in selected cities of the Silesian agglomeration [PLN/m2]
Source: Flash information from the National Bank of Poland Regional Branch in Katowice, Statistics and Foreign Exchange Department, The residential property market in
Katowice and in selected cities of the Silesian agglomeration – Q1 2015
Source: Emmerson Evaluation, Analysis of transaction prices and forecasts for the residential property market in Poland – primary and secondary market, Warsaw, February 2015.
