The housing market in Katowice and the surrounding area
Text from 2019. Laws, rates and prices may have changed since then. Ask an agent
The housing market in Katowice has been developing vigorously of late and, consequently, getting more expensive. Several factors influence this, the main one being the "Mieszkanie dla Młodych" (Flat for the Young) programme subsidising the purchase of residential properties, and the gradually rising minimum down payment, which has gone up from 5% in 2014 to as much as 15% this year.
People buying flats as late as the end of 2015, ready to take out a mortgage for a property, wanted to get ahead of the increase in the down payment requirement imposed by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, which is to reach as much as 20% in 2017. At present there is a fear that the MDM funds will not be enough for all who want them, and consequently those determined to buy a flat want to close the transaction as fast as they can. An additional factor behind buyers' haste is that the National Bank of Poland has cut interest rates by 0.5%, which has a positive effect on the mood of potential borrowers.
This situation is reflected in flat prices in Katowice and across Silesia. Katowice, one of the most dynamically developing cities in the Silesian Voivodeship, gains several thousand new residents every year. In 2014 almost 2700 people moved into the city, including over 100 from abroad.
Where is it most expensive?
The most expensive flats in Katowice are in Kostuchna, Brynów and Załęże. These districts are far from the centre, have plenty of green areas and, importantly, new housing. An interesting fact is that residential properties in Śródmieście are cheaper than these by an average of one thousand PLN per m². The cheapest districts of Katowice, meanwhile, are Bogucice, Wełnowiec-Józefowiec and Giszowiec. Such prices result from the fact that they are dominated mainly by old housing, that is, tenement houses and so-called "familoki" (traditional Silesian workers' housing).
READ ALSO – FLAT PRICES IN SILESIAN CITIES COMPARED WITH PRICES IN POLAND'S MAJOR CITIES
Katowice compared with other Silesian cities
Katowice ranks among the cities with the highest prices per square metre in Silesia. It is ahead of Gliwice, which is the second most popular city in the voivodeship, as well as Mikołów and Chorzów. A square metre of residential property in Katowice is on average as much as 2,800 PLN more expensive than in the city with the cheapest flats in Silesia, namely Bytom.
Because of the dynamically changing situation on the housing market in Poland, flats for sale in Katowice will get more expensive. This is because people applying for MDM funding will want to buy a flat before the minimum down payment rises and before the programme's financial limits are exhausted.
