This is how much salary you need to save for your own contribution. Warsaw breaks an inglorious record

Apartment prices in the largest Polish cities have stopped growing rapidly, but for buyers this does not mean easier access to their own home. In Warsaw, a 20% down payment for an average apartment requires over PLN 175,000. zloty. This is the equivalent of almost 16 average gross monthly salaries. In other large cities, the barrier to market entry is clearly lower.

After months of growth, the long-awaited calm has appeared on the housing market. Otodom’s preliminary data for July 2026 indicate that in most of the largest cities the average offer prices of apartments have stopped increasing month by month.

The exceptions are Wrocław, where an increase of 0.6% was recorded, and Kraków, with an increase of 0.1%. In the capital of Małopolska, the average price approached the symbolic limit of PLN 17,000. PLN per square meter Only PLN 10 was needed to achieve it.

Does this mean that the most difficult period for buyers is already behind us? Not necessarily.

Housing prices stopped rising? Annual data shows otherwise

The stabilization visible compared to the previous month does not mean that apartments have stopped increasing in price on an annual basis. The situation in Warsaw is particularly interesting, where in July the dynamics was as much as 14%. year to year.

Katarzyna Kuniewicz, director of market research at Otodom, points out, however, that this is largely a statistical effect, similar to that observed a few months earlier in the Tricity.

This means that even if prices increase only slightly in the following months, the annual dynamics may remain double-digit until May 2027.

New apartments in Warsaw have escaped the secondary market

The relationship between the prices of new and used apartments in the capital has changed particularly significantly. Even at the beginning of 2026, the difference between both segments was small.

Since then, the prices of second-hand apartments have increased by 2 percent, while the prices of apartments offered by developers have increased by 8 percent. New apartments became more expensive four times faster.

The opposite situation can be observed in Krakow. It is the only one of the seven largest Polish cities where apartments on the secondary market are currently more expensive than new ones. Prices of used premises there have already exceeded PLN 17,000. PLN per square meter

The situation is even different in Tricity. A buyer of a second-hand apartment will pay on average almost PLN 1,000. PLN less per square meter than a person choosing a premises from a developer.

Record transaction prices in Warsaw and Wrocław

The July slowdown in offer prices has another side. Preliminary data from Otodom show that the average transaction prices of apartments sold in Warsaw and Wrocław have reached the highest monthly values ​​in the history of these markets.

It was in Wrocław 15.3 thousand PLN per square meterwhile in Warsaw as many as 18.4 thousand PLN per square meter

The mere stabilization of offers does not mean that apartments have become significantly more available.

How much do you need to earn for your own contribution? Warsaw at the forefront

The biggest obstacle for people planning to buy an apartment is collecting their own contribution. Otodom experts compared median offer prices with local salaries.

In the case of Warsaw, the results are particularly telling.

The median price of a 47 sq m apartment offered in July. was 878 thousand zloty. Assuming a 20% own contribution, the buyer must have an amount in excess 175 thousand zloty.

The average monthly salary in Warsaw was according to the June data from the Central Statistical Office cited by Otodom PLN 11,185 gross.

Therefore, if the entire salary could be allocated solely for own contribution, it would take a lot to collect the necessary amount nearly 16 months. In practice, when only part of the salary is saved, this period is of course many times longer.

– Although Warsaw offers the greatest opportunities for professional development and a rich cultural offer, the latest data on salaries and housing prices show the other side of the coin. If we want to buy an apartment here, even with one of the highest average earnings in the country, we need to save up for the down payment for the longest time among all the largest Polish cities – explains Dr. Maciej Kietliński, an economic expert at Otodom.

Katowice and Łódź fare much better

Katowice was at the other end of the ranking. Taking into account the local average gross salary, the equivalent of a 20% own contribution can be accumulated there 11.3 months. In Łódź, it takes just over a year.

Differences between cities may become even more important as hybrid work becomes more common. A person employed by a company from Warsaw does not always have to live in the capital and bear the related real estate costs.

– Instead of buying an expensive apartment in Warsaw or Krakow, you can live in the much cheaper Łódź or Katowice, and commute to the office only occasionally. Effect? Lower cost of purchasing real estate while maintaining statistically higher earnings – notes Dr. Maciej Kietliński.

July’s data show the paradox of the current market. The pace of apartment price growth has slowed down, but the entry barrier for buyers remains very high. Especially in Warsaw, even high salaries compared to the country do not compensate for real estate prices.