Sales falter, prices rise
ResidentialThese are the lowest recorded figures for the last five years. “It was also the third quarter in a row where fewer new apartments came onto the market, as a result of which prices increased significantly,” reads the latest report by consulting firm Reas. For the first two quarters of this year sales have fallen In the markets analysed by Reas of Warsaw, Wrocław, Kraków, the TriCity, Poznań and Łódź, 30,300 new apartments were put on sale in H1 of this year, which was 3,000 less than in the same period of 2017, when 34,100 apartments were sold. The total number of apartment sales for the six markets in the first quarter came to 15,600, a 15.2 pct q-o-q drop less and 17.4 pct less than in the record-breaking final quarter of 2017. Sales were down 24 pct q-o-q in Warsaw, the largest of all the six markets. Reas reported a similar fall in Wrocław: 23.3 pct q-o-q. In Kraków and the Tri-City quarterly falls came to 9.6 pct and 11.5 pct respectively. However the smallest of the six markets, Poznań, sales increased 6.7 pct q-o-q and Łódź saw record breaking sales for its second quarter in a row with a rise of 16.2 pct.
“This does not mean that buyers have suddenly stopped purchasing apartments. The pace of sales and the very low percentage of completed unsold apartments show that demand still outstrips supply. This is one of the reasons why prices have risen in all cities. Some buyers have not been able to accept these increases. Also, those who only just had the means to take out a mortgage have no longer had the assistance of the government’s Apartments for the Young programme in effect for the last two quarters,” explains Katarzyna Kuniewicz, a partner at Reas. Quarter on quarter Warsaw prices rose by 4.9 pct in Q2, while in Kraków they were up by 5.3 pct. However on a y-o-y basis the increase are much higher: In the TriCity prices were up by 16.4 pct. Double-digit increases were also recorded in Warsaw (13.3 pct), Poznań (10.4 pct) and Wrocław (10.2 pct). Kraków saw an annual increase of 8.2 pct, while price rises in Łódź looked relatively moderate at6.9 pct y-o-y.
“Developers can expect buyers to balk at rising prices and the lowe demand will result in a smaller number of apartments on offer. However, everything points to the reduction in the trading volumes to be slow and gradual, which will allow companies to adapt to a changing situation on the marker,” says Kazimierz Kirejczyk, the CEO of Reas.
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