Second-hand apartments are on the rise again. Here’s what’s happening with prices

June brought a change that had not been visible on the second-hand apartment market for a long time. For the first time in many months, the number of premises disappearing from sales offers turned out to be greater than the number of new advertisements. As a result, the available offer has shrunk slightly, which may indicate that buyers are returning.

At the same time, there are no signs of a sharp price increase yet. Despite the greater activity of buyers, average prices in the largest cities remain at a similar level.

– June brought the first signals of greater buyer activity in a long time. The number of apartments withdrawn from the market was higher than the number of new offers, which resulted in a decline in the available offer. However, this does not mean the return of upward pressure on prices. In most metropolises, average rates remain stable, says Marek Wielgo, an expert at GetHome.pl.

There are fewer and fewer offers on the secondary market

According to data from the real estate portal search engine Adradar, the number of apartments for sale on the secondary market decreased by about 2 percent in June. relative to May. There were 8% more new offers. less than a month earlier, while the number of apartments sold or withdrawn from the market increased by 12%.

At the end of June, approximately 140,000 were on sale. apartments compared to approximately 143 thousand a month earlier.

The largest monthly decline in the number of offers was recorded in Warsaw, where the number of apartments available decreased by 6%. less than in May. Shoppers also had less choice in:

• Poznań (-3%),

• Łódź (-2%),

• Tricity (-2%),

• Wrocław (-1%).

The exception was Kraków, where the number of offers increased slightly, and Katowice with a 4 percent increase.

Looking year to year, the offer is still significantly smaller than twelve months ago. The largest declines concern Wrocław (-21%), Warsaw (-19%) and Kraków (-17%). Only Katowice has a larger number of available apartments than a year earlier.

Apartment prices remain stable

Despite signs of greater buyer activity, this has not yet translated into price increases.

– June did not bring any major price changes. In Warsaw, the average price of a square meter of an apartment on the secondary market dropped symbolically to approximately PLN 17,900. PLN, and in Wrocław up to PLN 13.6 thousand. zloty. A slight decline was also recorded in Poznań. In Krakow, Tricity and Łódź, average prices have practically not changed, says Wielgo.

Katowice stood out from other cities, where the average price per square meter increased from approximately PLN 11.7 thousand. up to 12.1 thousand zloty. According to the expert, however, this does not mean widespread price increases.

– Despite the improvement in demand, the market is still strongly influenced by the large supply of developer apartments – notes an expert from the GetHome.pl website.

Has the secondary market started winning over new apartments?

The analysis of data from the primary and secondary markets suggests that in June some buyers chose second-hand apartments more often than apartments offered by developers.

The GetHome.pl portal expert points out that the only exceptions could be Kraków and Katowice.

– This may be evidenced by an increase in the number of developer contracts concluded and a decrease in the number of apartments available on the primary market. At the same time, the offer of second-hand apartments has increased in both of these cities, which suggests relatively weaker demand on the secondary market, says Wielgo.

In other metropolises, the situation was the opposite. BIG DATA RynekPierwotny.pl data indicate that sales of new apartments were weaker than in May, while the number of offers on the secondary market was decreasing.

– Buyers may have been attracted by lower prices of second-hand apartments. In all analyzed cities, premises on the secondary market are cheaper per square meter than new apartments offered by developers. The biggest difference occurs in Łódź and Poznań – cities where June Adradar data suggest a recovery in demand on the secondary market – sums up the GetHome.pl expert.