Where can Poles afford their own apartment? In these cities it is much cheaper [lista] – HREIT analysis

According to HREIT data, less than half of the residents of provincial cities are able to buy a 45-meter apartment for their five-year salary gross. As analysts emphasize, this result is “far from satisfactory”

“If we add to this the fact that young people usually earn less than people in their 40s, it is easy to understand why, according to Eurostat data, more than half of people aged 25 to 34 live with their parents. This is another argument suggesting that a program facilitating the purchase of a first apartment does not have to be a bad idea at all,” notes Bartosz Turek, the author of the analysis.

The report emphasizes that affordability would increase by more than half if, instead of a 45-meter two-room apartment, the goal was a studio apartment. A similar improvement in results could be observed by choosing a property in a county adjacent to a provincial capital.

The HREIT analyst drew attention to the gap between individual provincial cities. For example, in Warsaw, only 33% of residents can buy a 45-meter apartment with their 5-year income. On the other hand, in Gorzów Wielkopolski, the percentage of such people is 73%.

“According to HREIT estimates, a very decent parity between salaries and housing prices can also be found in Katowice, Łódź, Zielona Góra and Bydgoszcz. In these cities, over 60% of 'full-time employees' should earn so much that the sum of their five-year gross income would exceed the current price of a 45-meter apartment. More than half of people employed full-time in Olsztyn, Kielce, Opole, Toruń and Szczecin are in a similar situation,” Turek enumerates.

On the other side of the list are Gdańsk, Wrocław, Warsaw and Kraków, where only one in three residents can afford to buy a flat with 5 years of gross earnings.

“The situation is worst in the capital of the Małopolska province.. The latest NBP data there suggest that an average 45-meter apartment should be valued at slightly over PLN 650,000. Even with a median gross income of PLN 8,000 (half of residents earn more, and half less), such an expensive purchase is very difficult to achieve, if not impossible,” HREIT notes.

The analysis also emphasized that not every person whose income covers the price of a 45-meter apartment can afford to buy such a property. There are also many other factors, such as household size, ability to save, and location.

“In addition, access to credit has a key impact on housing availability, which has been particularly clearly demonstrated in recent years. After all, in 2021 we had an episode of easy access to credit, which resulted from the lowest interest rates in history. Shortly afterwards, in 2022, there was a sharp slowdown in credit activity, and a moment later, in the second half of 2023, the most generous program in history of subsidizing loans for people buying their first apartment began its operation,” emphasizes Bartosz Turek.