The number of applications not only increased significantly, but included various categories. In total, 2272 applications concerned real estate, and the remaining 38 shares in companies. Such a dynamics of changes is noticeable at a time when foreigners, especially from outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland, are more and more willing to look for investments in Poland. In 2024, the minister issued a total of 1515 consents to the purchase, including 1112 permits for the purchase of land, 479 on residential and commercial premises and nine for the needs of diplomatic missions, which concerned only American representative offices.
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Ukrainians predominate
Leśniakiewicz drew attention to the locations that enjoyed the greatest interest. Mazowieckie, Greater Poland, Lesser Poland and Śląskie turned out to be the leading provinces. In turn, the citizens of Ukraine, Belarus, Great Britain and Turkey prevailed among those submitting the applications. He emphasized that “nearly 70 percent of the sale of real estate went to Ukrainian citizens,” which MPs particularly commented on the discussion.
Jarosław Zieliński from PiS warned against treating consents as only a “formalistic procedure” and pointed out that the state could not act as a passive recorder of foreign transactions. In turn, Karolina Piekarska from KO expressed satisfaction with the fact that from 2024 the Ministry of Interior and Administration has gained access to data from the General Inspectorate of Financial Supervision, which is to give greater transparency of sources of financing such purchases.
Needs of refugees
Piotr Górnikiewicz from Poland 2050 – the way of the road indicated that a significant part of the applications was submitted by Ukrainian refugees “both to secure housing needs and investments.” He said that the war in Ukraine was responsible for the increase in the number of applications, which forced many citizens of this country to look for a new place to live.
As part of the applications, the current sales of agricultural and forestry real estate were also considered. The Ministry of Interior and Administration issued in this category 199 consents covering an area of 33.8 ha, especially in Greater Poland, Mazowieckie, West Pomeranian and Lesser Poland. The average area of residential premises bought by foreigners was 62.17 sq m, and their total area exceeded 30,000. sq m, with dominants in the Pomeranian, West Pomeranian, Lower Silesian and Lubuskie voivodships.
Doubts about the scale of this phenomenon were expressed by the confederation MP, Witold Tumanowicz, who warned against the “degradation of the Polish national interest”, suggesting that Ukrainian language “at such a pace” can become official in Poland. When applying for the rejection of the report, he also referred to a change in the function of the ministry himself.
“Natural phenomenon”
In response, the left and its representative Arkadiusz Sikora pointed out that the increase in the number of permits is a natural phenomenon in the context of the war behind the eastern border. “Ukrainian citizens who lost their homes want to find a new place to live with us,” said the MP, adding that this is a phenomenon that should be taken with understanding.
Polish provisions regarding the acquisition of real estate by foreigners are still based on the Act of 1920, which requires administrative consent to such transactions. This document also describes exceptions to this obligation. So far in 2024 as many as 38 thousand Transaction documents were registered in cases where the permit was not required – this was most often due to the applicable exemptions.
