This is what buyers have been waiting for: housing prices have stopped rising. Much of the credit for this goes to politicians

In Warsaw and the Upper Silesian-Zagłębie Metropolis, August was the fifth month this year in which the average price per square meter of apartments offered by developer companies maintained the level from the previous month. We can also be pleased with the slowdown in price increases in the Tri-City and Łódź, where in July the average price of new apartments per square meter increased by as much as 2 percent – informs the RynekPierwotny.pl website.

Poznań: the streak of three months without pay rises has been broken

A similar increase was recorded in Wrocław at the time. In August, it amounted to “only” 1 percent. Similarly in Kraków and Poznań. However, in these cities, prices returned to the growth path. In Kraków, a month ago, we celebrated the first decrease in the average price per square meter by 1 percent in 2.5 years. In Poznań, the series of three months without increases was interrupted.

– A year ago, August was an exceptionally busy month for developers. The banks’ offer included the “Safe Credit 2%”, which triggered a real avalanche of demand for apartments. This year, the sales offices of development companies have clearly emptied out. It is no wonder that they have started to increase supply again – comments Marek Wielgo, an expert from the RynekPierwotny.pl portal.

Based on preliminary sales data from BIG DATA RynekPierwotny.pl, it can be concluded that, among others, in Warsaw and Krakow, some potential buyers decided that there was no need to hurry and went on vacation in August. Among them are those who have cash or sufficient creditworthiness. In turn, those who cannot currently afford a loan due to too high interest rates are waiting for more favorable credit conditions. In this group, there are many who are still counting on the new borrower support program “Kredyt na start”. Unfortunately, the government did not make a final decision on this matter in August either.

Developers are handing over fewer properties

It is also worth noting a certain pattern – in all cities where apartment sales fell in August (in Warsaw, Krakow, Lodz and the Upper Silesian-Zagłębie Metropolis), developers delivered fewer apartments to the market than a month earlier. Conversely, in the Tri-City and Poznan, the increase in sales could have been the result of an increase in supply. Only Wroclaw broke from this pattern, where more development agreements were concluded in August, despite a decrease in the number of apartments that appeared on sale. Despite this, the situation of buyers in all metropolises is still quite comfortable in terms of the size of the offer – in most cities it has increased, and if it has decreased, it has not been much. In addition, developers offer various types of bonuses, and even discounts of several percent.

It is not known what will happen with the “Startup Loan”

According to the assumptions of the Ministry of Development and Technology, the housing loan subsidy program would start next year and cost over PLN 1.15 billion. The program is announced to last for years: the Ministry argues that thanks to this, the situation from 2023 will not be repeated, when Poles rushed to banks for a “Safe 2% loan” because they felt that the money would only be available for a few months. As a result, housing prices in all regions went up dramatically, because a large group of customers “jumped” to buy in a short time.

Another thing is that “BK2” was also supposed to last for a few years. It didn’t work out, the market was deregulated.

Discussions about the new subsidy program will erupt in full force in a few days, because the Ministry of Development and Technology will soon present a package of projects concerning the real estate market.

• cheap apartments for rent,

• support for families with average incomes in the form of housing loans,

• removing investment barriers,

• release of land for development.

Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz wants to stop work on “Kredyt na start”

The Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy wants to suspend work until information is obtained about the impact of this solution on the rental and purchase market. There is a lack of not only an assessment of the impact of the future subsidy system, but also data allowing for an assessment of the previous program.

– We continue to note the lack of data regarding the impact of the 2% loan on a number of areas, including the impact on the rental market – recalled Minister Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, quoted by ISBiznes.

She added that in her opinion the basic argument that the refined “Start-up Loan” will not cause an increase in real estate prices is difficult to accept, because almost all expert sources speak of their increase, or at most of a certain stabilization of price growth.

Krzysztof Paszyk: money for subsidies is provided in the budget

Minister of Development and Technology Krzysztof Paszyk was asked on Tuesday on TVP Info whether the money for subsidies is provided for in the budget. He assured that “expenditures for 0 percent credit are already preliminarily written off.” In the first year of the program’s operation, it will be about PLN 500 million, he informed.

– In my opinion, the amount allocated for housing in the budget for next year will also be enough to implement the credit program, i.e. a program that will allow many Poles waiting to buy an apartment to face the most expensive credit in the EU, which Poland has – replied the minister.

He added that the average interest rate on a home loan is 8 percent.

– If we reduce the interest rate from 8 percent to 5-4 percent, then very often the cost of the monthly installment is 800-1200 PLN less. This is the goal of this project – emphasized the minister.

We wrote more about the minister’s announcements here.