Rental stops paying off? Private owners give up
Private rental loses its importance. Competition is growing from large companies, and the profitability of the investment decreases – writes “Puls Biznesu”.
Private apartment owners are increasingly struggling with difficulties in attracting tenants. According to “Puls Biznesu”, competition is growing from professional real estate rental companies, and profits from private rental are getting lower.
Investment profitability
According to Ewa Palus, the main analytics of Tablaofert.pl, cited by the daily, the profitability of investments in apartments for rent has been below the profitability of 10-year treasury bonds for a long time. NBP data show that in the first quarter of 2025 the rate of return on investment in a flat financed in cash was 3.1 percent. in six largest cities. Two years earlier it was about 4 percent. The situation is even less favorable in the case of investments supported by credit – here the return on capital can even be negative.
Marcin Drogomirecki from the Morizon-Gratka group indicates that despite the still high housing prices, the level of rent does not encourage investment. It estimates that the current profitability is about 3 percent, if you can actually rent the premises. In practice, however, owners must take into account breaks between tenants, growing maintenance costs and competition from the PRS sector – professional apartment operators for rent.
Demand is falling
The expert also notes that the demand for rent has dropped, and at the same time the number of new offers has decreased. The reason is the decision of some owners to sell unnecessary apartments. This is the result of difficulty finding tenants and falling rental rates.
According to Dzmitryy Tryfan from Metrohouse, cited by Puls Biznesu, in the coming months you should not expect rent increases. He draws attention to the increase in operating costs, which cannot be fully transferred to tenants. For apartment owners, this means additional cost pressure and further decreases in profitability. More and more indicates that the advantage on the lease market can be taken over by professional companies that offer a more stable model of operation and a larger scale.
