Where in Poland are the cheapest and most expensive flats?

It seems that different Polish cities offer their residents different standards of living. This mainly concerns the cost of living, which includes, among other things, house and flat prices. It is fairly logical – new houses for sale in Katowice must be much cheaper than properties of comparable standard and floor area in, say, Kraków. In reality, however, the bigger differences apply only to the largest Polish metropolises – Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, Gdańsk and Poznań. In the remaining cities prices are quite similar! This applies even to voivodeship capitals, so in Katowice you can buy a house or a flat for much the same price as in Opole or Łódź.

The big five clearly in the lead

Whether a given region of Poland is cheap or expensive depends on the prices in its capital. Accordingly, the most expensive are the Masovian, Lower Silesian, Pomeranian, Lesser Poland and Greater Poland voivodeships. In their capitals prices are even more than 100 per cent higher than in other regional cities. For example, the difference between Warsaw and Zielona Góra is as much as 120 per cent!

Property prices in other cities do not differ significantly

In other cities, even those important for a given region, prices are comparable. For example, a medium-sized (50 m²) new flat in Radom (Masovian Voivodeship) costs about 235 thousand PLN. A similar property for the same price can be found in Czarnków (Greater Poland Voivodeship) and Piotrków Trybunalski (Łódź Voivodeship). On the secondary market, a flat of the same size for 150 thousand PLN can be found in Sosnowiec (Silesian Voivodeship) and Inowrocław (Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship), while about 25 thousand PLN more has to be paid for a flat in Chorzów (Silesian Voivodeship). Overall, prices in these cities hover around 3,200 PLN/m².

Speaking more generally: in which Polish cities can we buy the cheapest flats on the primary and secondary markets? The best prices are found in Kielce, Opole, Zielona Góra and Białystok (primary market), and in Katowice, Łódź, Kielce, Bydgoszcz, Białystok and Zielona Góra.

Higher prices also in so-called dormitory towns and resorts

Prices of flats and houses in the so-called dormitory towns of the largest Polish metropolises are an interesting phenomenon. These are towns located within 30–40 km of Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Kraków and Poznań. Prices in these places are unusual: although they are much lower than in the regional capitals, they are also much higher than in other towns in those voivodeships. To recap – flats on the secondary market in large, but not the leading, cities of the regions cost around 3.2 thousand PLN/m². In the satellite towns of the metropolises, however, they reach 5–5.5 thousand PLN/m²!

Towns that are holiday resorts also depart from the general trend. In seaside and mountain resorts, flats likewise remain more expensive than in other towns, but given the investment potential of these places, the differences are entirely understandable.