Salaries have caught up with apartment prices, but two years ago it was much better

Stable housing prices and high dynamics make it much easier to find a flat than a year ago – according to an analysis by Bankier.pl. However, it is not so rosy if we look at the data in the long term. We checked how long representatives of individual professional groups have to work for their “M”.

The last 12 months have been a time of decreasing stratification between the average salary and average transaction prices of apartments in the largest Polish cities.

In our analysis, we used a simplified coefficient indicating how much gross monthly salary would have to be saved in order to buy a 50-meter apartment and a 35-meter studio apartment. We used data on average transaction prices of apartments in Q3 2024, made available to Bankier.pl by Cenatorium, and data from the Central Statistical Office on average gross salary in individual economic sectors. For simplicity, we took into account average net salaries, i.e. take-home pay.

Even seven years less – how much should you save for a 50-square-meter apartment?

According to the assumptions made above, people working in the IT sector need the least amount of time to save for a flat. According to the Central Statistical Office data, in November 2025, they earned on average less than the price of a square meter of a 50-meter apartment in Warsaw.

Taking into account the take-home pay based on an employment contract, the average transaction price of a 50-square-meter apartment located in the capital would include 74 average net salaries paid in the IT sector.

For comparison, those employed in industry would need 114 wageson the other hand, they found themselves at the bottom working in the catering and hotel industry, for which the coefficient calculated in this way amounted to 157.

Significant differences could also be found between individual cities. Of the largest six, the cheapest apartments were traditionally found in Łódź. 50-meter apartments there cost on average PLN 9,112 in Q3 2025. People working in IT for the national average, who would like to buy an apartment in the capital of the province. Łódź, they would need 45 monthly salaries.

Those working in the catering and hotel industry for an average salary would have to spend 95 monthly salaries to buy a 50-square-meter apartment, which is more than employees of IT companies who want to buy a premises of this size located in Warsaw.

How much do you have to work to buy a studio apartment?

You need to save less average salary to become the owner of a 35-square-meter studio apartment. However, due to higher average transaction prices per square meter in the case of apartments with an area of ​​up to 35 square meters, the decline is not linear.

Traditionally, it is most difficult to obtain your own “M” in the case of those employed in the catering industry. In the case of this industry, the average price of a 35-square-meter apartment in the largest Polish cities ranges from 73 to 124 average net monthly salaries.

Those employed in IT companies would need from 34 to 58 average monthly net salaries to buy a 35-square-meter studio apartment in the voivodeship capital for cash.

The availability of housing has increased, but it has been much better

Importantly, you have to work less for an apartment than a year ago, but at the same time longer than two years ago. Average salaries have most caught up with apartment prices in Gdańsk, where – depending on the sector – the number of out-of-pocket salaries, included in the average transaction price of a 50-meter apartment, decreased from three to eight during the year.

Salaries and apartment prices increased the most evenly in the previous year in Poznań, where only in the case of transport there was a noticeable decline in the coefficient (-4 y/y). In turn, in construction, trade and car mechanics it has not changed.

Over the past two years, the situation of those looking for their own “M” has deteriorated the most in Warsaw, where – depending on the industry – the number of monthly salaries needed to buy a 50-square-meter apartment increased from four to even nine in the case of gastronomy.

A much less significant increase in apartment prices (although not small) over the last two years, which was recorded in Gdańsk, made the capital of the province Pomeranian Voivodeship was the only one of the six largest Polish cities where the availability of apartments increased over two years.

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