How much does an apartment in my city really cost? You will be able to check it

A special service presenting real estate prices from notarial deeds was announced in 2023 by the then Minister of Development, Waldemar Buda. The new management of the ministry considered the idea to be good, added its own solutions and as a result, the Housing Trading Data Portal (DOM Portal) will soon be launched.

Government portal with real estate prices

It will collect information from three sources, the most important of which are data resulting from notarial deeds. The Head of the National Revenue Administration will report them. These will therefore be the final (transaction) prices at which the transaction was concluded, and not the offer prices, which are always higher.

What is the purpose of the official portal with prices? It is to help buyers: knowing the real price of apartments in the area they are interested in, they can negotiate prices more effectively. The information will also help public institutions, which, thanks to the ongoing monitoring, will be able to react to unfavourable changes. “The operation of the Portal is ultimately to provide information necessary for the proper conduct of the state’s housing policy and the parameterisation of housing support instruments,” writes the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in the justification for the project.

“Start-up loan” is still a ghost promise

The only thing is that the market situation changes much more dynamically than the government’s “parameterized instruments.” One might even get the impression that it would be better for the government to stay away from the real estate market, because its indecision and empty promises only disrupt the market. First, subsidies under the “Safe Credit 2%”, which led to rapid price increases within a few months. The program, planned to last at least a year, was closed after six months. At the beginning of the year, the new government began its story called “continuation of the previous program, but excluding its errors.”

The new subsidy program has been called “Start Credit” and it is a strange promise. Firstly, it does not convince the coalition partners, who announced that they will not support it. Donald Tusk’s stubbornness, who is pushing it despite this, is surprising. Secondly, we still do not know the project, although the Ministry of Development has promised to present it several times. Weeks pass and we still get the same message: next week.

This is causing a lot of uncertainty among buyers and sellers. The former are wondering whether to buy now or wait for potential subsidies, while the latter are hesitant whether this is the right time to put their apartment up for sale. Maybe it would be better to wait for a repeat of last year, when subsidies “sparked” the market? So we have a big suspension that does not help either of them.