The real estate market has gone crazy. The demand for loans increased by 47%, and developers pulled the brake

Interest in mortgage loans increased by 47%. year to year and a decrease in the number of apartments put on the market by developers by 29%. – this is how Otodom experts sum up the first quarter of 2026.

144,000 people applied for loans in the first quarter. people – an increase of 47%. year to year and by 83 percent compared to 2024. The average loan amount exceeded half a million zlotys. The last three months amounted to 70,000. loans granted with a total value of PLN 31 billion, of which 56 percent this amount was allocated to the seven largest agglomerations.

At the same time, developers put on sale 29 percent more. fewer apartments than a year ago, which is the worst quarterly result in three years – Otodom noted in his report. On the primary market, prices increased by 6.4%. counting year to year, and on the secondary – by approx. 2%.

As reported, the demand for loans is mainly due to: the continuation of the NBP interest rate reduction cycle (to 3.75 percent for the reference rate in March) and the growth of wages (8-10 percent year-on-year). Buyers' decisions were also accelerated by uncertainty related to the conflict in the Middle East and rising raw material prices – the portal reported, citing the analyzes of Dr. Hab. Waldemar Rogowski, chief analyst of the BIK Group.

Fears of inflation and interest rate increases resulted in a high share of refinancing of old liabilities in the first quarter: approx. 30%. in numbers and 25 percent in terms of value – experts said.

There were different moods on the supply side of the development market. Otodom calculated that 8.8 thousand were added to the offer in the first quarter. apartments in seven main markets, which is the worst quarterly result in three years and thus a decline of 23%. quarter to quarter and by 29 percent year to year. The largest reduction in the number of new premises put on sale occurred in Wrocław and Katowice (decrease by 48 and 44%, respectively, year-on-year); in Warsaw the decline reached 24 percent and in Kraków 19 percent. Tricity developers limited new supply the least compared to other markets (-11%).

At the same time, sales in the first three months of 2026 increased by 31%. year to year. This means that the offer currently available will shrink.

The situation on the secondary market was different. The supply slowly increased and at the end of the quarter there were 41.6 thousand active advertisements on the seven largest markets, which gave an increase of 3%. compared to January. The largest number of second-hand apartments appeared in the Tricity and Poznań (+6%), and Katowice was the only one to record a symbolic shrinkage of the offer (-1%).

The stratification between the primary and secondary markets is visible in prices. According to the data, average rates for developer apartments increased by 6.4% year on year. percent, which was almost twice as high as the current inflation. The leader in growth was Tricity: by 18%. On the secondary market, prices increased on average by 2 percent, the highest in the Tricity – by 5.2 percent, but significantly less than on the local development market.

Of the seven largest markets, the highest prices are in Warsaw: PLN 19,000. PLN 261 per square meter on the primary market and PLN 18,000 PLN 526 on secondary insurance. The cheapest is in Łódź: PLN 11,000. PLN 388 per square meter on the primary market and PLN 8,000 per square meter PLN 758 on secondary insurance. (PAP)

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