New customers threaten developers!

They do not know their ability yet, do not narrow the location to one district and are open to changes in their original assumptions. These are the debutants, i.e. people who are just starting to search for new apartments on the market. Their presence on advertising portals is more and more noticeable. According to data from RynekPierwotny.pl, 40% of housing debutants look around the apartment throughout the city and its outskirts, and 43% look in several districts at the same time. Thus, it is this group that gives new dynamics to the demand on the market today.

Wide offer and increase in queries

From mid -2024, the number of queries about apartments increased systematically. In the first quarter of 2025 it reached the historic peak – it was as much as 31% higher than in the best month from the period of the “Safe Credit 2” program. These data show that demand has returned to the market with great force.

This does not mean, however, that the sale of apartments is equally dynamically growing. At the same time, the number of available investments has increased – the offer on the market is extremely wide today, which means that the same customer is considering several projects at the same time. In practice, the demand “dilutes” and developers have a more difficult task to attract and stop the attention of potential buyers. Debutants are standing in this crushed landscape.

– It is worth paying special attention to this group of customers, especially since we are dealing with a new market situation, which is the unveiling of prices – says Marek Wielgo, an expert of the RynekPierwotny.pl portal. – Debutants will no longer have to call developers to get to know the price. They will only contact those companies whose offer will seem really interesting to them – adds the expert.

Who is the new group of customers?

It is above all singles and couples without children. Most of them do not have their own apartment yet, and their first elections are focused on 2-room apartments. For many of them, a budget around 700,000 PLN is the upper limit of possibilities. Because they are often people visiting cities, unrelated family with a specific district, location flexibility becomes key – as much as 80% does not indicate one preferred district, the price and standard of the project count.

Active but dispersed

Debutants are just studying the market, but they are the ones who generate the largest number of queries today. They became an important player, while the number of investors fell by half compared to 2023. Developers must therefore adapt sales strategies – focusing on quality, transparency and financial education of new customers.

Importantly, as many as over 40% of debutants do not know their creditworthiness, so he starts with free “looking around”. This is confirmed by the data RynekPierwotny.pl – 70% of the movement is generated by people who are just orienting in the market.

Unlike investors who operate according to clearly defined criteria (17% of them limit their search to one precisely selected district), debutants test several scenarios at the same time. They often expand the search area or change the assumptions as to the size and price before they narrow the choice for a specific investment.

Developers note that customers calling apartments in the matter of flats, for example, in Białołęka ask immediately whether the company also does not build settlements in Bemowo or Ursus. It best shows how smooth the search limits have become today – emphasizes Jan Dziekoński, Head of Market Insights in the Research section on RynekPierwotny.pl.

The analysis of user traffic confirms that the search paths are more and more complex.

Changes on the search map

According to the data of the RynekPierwotny.pl portal, on the seven largest housing markets in Poland, as much as 89% of demand focuses in intermediate districts and on the outskirts. This trend has been lasting for two years, regardless of changes in interest rates, housing prices or support programs. However, Warsaw shows a new trend. From the beginning of 2025, the share of apartments on the outskirts increased by 9 percentage points at the expense of intermediate districts (away from the center, but not outskirts). At the same time, the center maintains stable interest, and in some segments it even slightly gains.

New power system on the market

The appearance of housing debutants changes the structure of demand in Poland. This is an open and flexible group that can quickly respond to changing market conditions. At the same time, their decisions are less predictable – the limits of location search are liquid, and the price criterion and good communication with the developer plays an increasingly important role.

Debutants are also demanding – they do not accept quality concessions. The price must be adequate to the investment standard, and the partner approach and high quality of customer service are also important.

In a situation where demand is distracted between many investments, you will gain advantage of those developers who can conduct dialogue with various segments of buyers – from singles looking for a small starting apartment, by investors hunting for studio apartments, to families investing in larger metroes. Recent months have shown that the demand for apartments is not so much weakening as evolving. Customers who are just starting their search and are not afraid to change the criteria are becoming more and more influenced by the market. Mieszkanie’s debutAnd this group, whose decisions will be crucial in the near future – it depends on them which projects will gain in importance and which will remain in the shadow of the competition.

More information on current buyer behavior.