Update on Poland's Real Estate Market for Q1 2013
| Date Published | 6/1/2013 |
| Author | Marja Hoek-Smit |
| Theme | |
| Country | Poland |
Update on Poland’s
Real Estate Market for Q1 2013
June 1, 2013
The Macro-prudential Policy Bureau of the National Bank of
Poland published an update on the housing sector and house prices and the state
of Poland’s real estate market for Q1 2013. The study provides detailed trends
in home prices, housing availability, loan availability, operating
profitability and real estate development projects, construction costs and the
economic situation of real estate developers in Poland.It shows figures on housing construction and
the residential market up to the end of Q1, 2013.
The residential sector is slowly regaining a balance between
demand and supply. The government’s subsidy program for homeowners was
terminated at the end of 2012. Mortgage interest rates are decreasing, which in
theory would make mortgage loans more accessible. However, banks’ lending
criteria are still tight and bank lending has declined. At the same time,
prices of real estate developer built houses in Warsaw and some other markets
have increased and the stock of unsold developer houses has decreased, even
though the unsold stock is more than twice the level considered as balanced.
The number of newly commenced investment projects and issued building permits
hit their lowest since 2006. The sector’s need to finance a large stock of
unsold housing is likely to lead to falling profitability, losses and
bankruptcies of the weakest market players.