Poles dream of own homes

2010-03-05

In 2009 demand on the Polish residential market was down only slightly year on year. Poles were most inclined to buy homes, though they are also increasingly more likely to purchase new flats, based on a survey conducted by Nowy Adres in cooperation with the research institute Gfk Polonia.
Based on the survey conducted among the residents of Warsaw, Krakow, Poznan and the Tri-City, despite the difficult situation on the credit market, last year 9% of respondents purchased a dwelling while another 2% was in the course of finalising such a purchase. In 2008 the figures had stood at 9% and 3%, respectively, which means that interest among prospective buyers has gone down only minimally, and were it not for the economic slowdown there would be more buyers. In the last 12 months, one in five of the surveyed persons decided against purchasing a flat, home or a plot of land for own development, primarily because of excessively high interest rates on housing loans and lack of creditworthiness.
Among respondents, 16% would like to upgrade their flat to a larger one, while 14% purchased property as an investment. Around 13% of those surveyed purchased dwellings for their children, and 12% wanted to exchange their flats for homes, planned to move to a different city or wanted to begin to live independently in own dwelling. Only 1% of respondents said that the purchased property was to be rented out while in 2008 5% of respondents had purchased dwellings with that intent.
In 2009 23% of respondents decided to build a home themselves, while 27% decided to purchase a new flat directly from a developer. Flats on the secondary market were purchased only by 14% of last year’s property buyers – down from 20% in 2008. Fewer Poles than in 2008 relied on real estate agencies – last year real estate brokers were involved in approx. 15% of transactions, while in 2008 the figure had stood at approx. 30%.

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