Developers in Poland are building and selling in record speed

According to GUS data, 234.7 thousand apartments and houses were built in Poland in 2021. This is by 6.3% (13.9 thousand apartments) more than a year earlier. Previously, this many residential properties was built in 1979. The average area of the built premises was 92.9 square meters.

Developers lead the way in residential construction

As in previous years, the lion’s share of these investments was carried out by developers (60% of units put into use) and individuals (38%). Within the framework of other forms of housing construction (cooperative, communal, rental, company), 4.6 thousand units were built, or less than 2% of the total.

In 2021 professional construction companies completed 141.7 thousand developer housing units. Better in this respect for companies was only the year 2020, when they handed over to customers 1 thousand units more.

Developers focused on smaller cities

That 2021 was a very good year in residential construction in Poland is also evidenced by other data. In the past 12 months, 277.4 thousand new projects were started, which is almost 1/4 more than a year earlier. This is the most in the history of the Third Republic of Poland.

This category was also dominated by developers, who started 166.3 thousand residential units. In comparison with the previous year, this means an increase of less than 28% (over 36 thousand residential units).

As estimated by the Polish Association of Real Estate Development Companies, as of 2018, developer apartments are being built mainly outside agglomerations. Since 2017, the share of the largest cities (Warsaw, Krakow, Łódź, Poznań, Wrocław) in housing starts has decreased from 56.2 to 34.9%.

A record was also set in the category of building permits and notifications with a construction project. In 2021, the offices issued and received 340.6 thousand of it. In annual terms, this means an increase of 23%.

Most decisions were received by developers. Due to them, they will be able to produce 213 thousand housing units. This result is by 1/4 (41 thousand apartments) better than in 2020.

Developer’s apartments like hot cakes

According to estimates of the Polish Association of Real Estate Developers (PZFD), developers sold 165 thousand apartments last year. This is also the best result in history. Most of the transactions (58%) took place in centers outside the six metropolitan areas.

However, sales in the latter ones were also very good and amounted to 69 thousand units. In this respect, only 2017 was better for construction companies, when they concluded 72 thousand reservation, preliminary and notarial agreements.

This data does not include investment premises. This includes rooms in aparthotels, apartments for rent bought by private individuals and premises acquired by investment funds conducting institutional rental (PRS). From a formal point of view, these are not apartments, but business premises.