Buying an apartment or rent? Experts indicate what really pays off

Buy or rent – this is the question about the apartment. In Poland, the vast majority of people dream of their own apartment or house. As soon as such a possibility arises, tenants willingly give up paying the rent to pay off the mortgage. Having “own four angles” is still perceived as a symbol of stabilization and security. But is the purchase of real estate really paying off?

– In discussions about the housing market, you can sometimes hear the opinion that in the wealthiest European countries higher than ownership values ​​flexibility on the labor market, which gives rent. The truth is that the high share of households hunting apartments testifies primarily to the fact that they cannot afford their own M – says Marek Wielgo, an expert of the RynekPierwotny.pl portal.

Experts of the RynekPierwotny.pl portal decided to look at this from an economic point of view. In search of answers, they reached for the analysis of the market of our western neighbors, where the topic of rental and purchase costs was converted in detail to many years. The results are surprising and can change the way we look at the profitability of having a flat.

Poland in the lead – we are still buying apartments

The latest Eurostat data for 2024 shows that Poland is still at the forefront of European Union countries in terms of the participation of households living on its own. Interestingly, only in the last four years the share of property has increased in our country from 86.8 percent. up to 87.1 percent, and despite the rapid increase in housing prices during this period.

Interestingly, these data indicate that 68.4 percent throughout the European Union Households live in their own homes or apartments, and the rest is tenants. The highest percentage of property owners was recorded in Romania, Slovakia, Croatia and Hungary – in these countries over 90 percent. residents owned its own premises. There is a completely different situation in Germany, where more than half of the society live in rented premises. The high participation of tenants also occurs in Austria and Denmark, which reflects a different housing model, based on a greater extent on rent than on its own.

In Poland, more and more renders

Eurostat data shows that in the years 2021–2024 ownership share in the housing market increased in eight EU countries, including Poland. The largest increase was recorded in Italy, and more often the inhabitants of Bulgaria, Denmark, Croatia, Latvia, Austria and Slovakia decided to buy more often. In turn, he gained the popularity of, among others in Malta, in Luxembourg, Portugal, Greece, Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as in several other Member States, including France, Spain and Sweden.

Expert: “Part of young Polish women and Poles consciously choose rental”

Marek Wielgo admits that the statistics given by Eurostat do not fully reflect the housing reality in individual countries. However, the direction of changes is more important.

– In the long run, Poland will most likely begin to become similar to Western European countries, in which the percentage of tenants is much higher. And not only because of high housing prices. Some young Polish women and Poles consciously choose rent. Why? Because they do not want to live with debt on the neck, or waste time on long commuting to work from distant corners of the city or suburban towns – says Marek Wielgo.

As he notes, even if their own apartment is at your fingertips, young people consciously choose a rental in the location, where the purchase of their own apartment is beyond their financial reach.

– On the other hand, most realize that when hiring a flat instead of buying it for a loan, they will finally stay with nothing. In retirement, they may not be easy to rent an apartment on market terms. The more that rents will probably increase by then, and retirement benefits will most likely be only a fraction of earnings from the period of professional activity – he states.

The sad fate of German tenants

The Germans have just realized from such an unhappy perspective.

-Pestela Institute in its latest report “Wohneigentum in Deutschland-Pestel-Institut 2025” clearly warns against the consequences of the decline in the ownership of apartments in Germany-says Wielgo.

He adds that, according to the analysis, people who do not decide to buy real estate in an active period of life must take into account the risk of respected problems in old age.

– Renches, especially in large cities, are becoming a growing burden on seniors and can significantly exceed their financial capabilities, and hence a simple path to poverty among pensioners – he notes.