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HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED THE EXPECTATIONS OF BUYERS IN THE HOUSING SECTOR?
A recently published report, “Apartment Buyers’ Preferences”, was prepared by the JLL team on the basis of data from the obido.pl platform gives an interesting snapshot of Poland’s residential market in Q4 2021, shown from the perspective of people looking for apartments.
With prices still on the rise, buyers of apartments in Poland are adopting a more realistic approach to finding a property. The most noticeable change in purchasers’ preferences is that prospective buyers now tend to accept a smaller property and have a larger budget prepared.
Q4 2021 data from Warsaw, Wrocław, Kraków and Tri-City show that:
The factor which had the greatest impact on the behaviour of people looking for apartments was the rapidly increasing prices (on average in Poland at a rate of 14-15 percent y/y).
The largest group, 39 percent of buyers, are still looking for two-room apartments. However, this is almost 8 p.p. down on five years ago. At the same time, interest in studio apartments has been continuously growing in all four surveyed markets since 2020.
Regardless of the preference for the number of rooms, all groups of buyers (investor, single, couple, family) saw a further decline in expectations of the minimum floor area.
Those looking for residential units are setting more realistic budgets. In all four cities, the maximum declared budget of each group of buyers increased significantly in 2021. On average, from 12 percent in Warsaw to 18 percent in Kraków.
During the year, the share of people accepting a size in the range of 30-39 sqm in sought-after units increased from 36 percent in Q4 2020 to as much as 47 percent in Q4 2021.
Around 60 percent of singles, couples and families want to take out a mortgage when purchasing an apartment.
“Although last year’s demand in the housing market was close to a record high, the rapid increase in house prices in 2021, combined with rising interest rates, is having a detrimental impact on the purchasing power of those looking for a new place to live,” comments Anna Karaś, senior consultant at JLL’s Housing Market Research Team.
UBM DEVELOPMENT OPENS ANDAZ PRAGUE HOTEL
The Andaz Prague hotel, developed by UBM Development, has officially opened. It took the real estate development company two-and-a-half years to transform the neo-classical landmarked Sugar Palace into an Andaz-brand lifestyle luxury hotel.
Andaz Prague is an exclusive five-star luxury hotel that is located in the historical centre of Prague. The hotel, which is operated by the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, has 152 rooms, 24 suites and five conference rooms, which were designed by the BrimeRobbins international design partnership that is based in Madrid.
The Andaz brand focuses on design in lifestyle luxury hotels, whereby the Andaz Prague hotel represents “the unconventional, the surprising and the extraordinary”, according to Doris Hecht, General Manager of the Andaz Prague.
SPEEDWELL OBTAINS A BUILDING PERMIT FOR THE FIRST PART OF PALTIM IN TIMISOARA
SPEEDWELL has received a building permit for Phase 1 of the PALTIM project. The first phase will feature 123 apartments out of a total of 236. Construction works will soon kick-off.
SPEEDWELL’s first project in the city of Timisoara, PALTIM, is a mixed-use ensemble that combines premium apartments, office and retail spaces, as well as two historical buildings that are going to be refurbished.
Phase 1 of the project features an apartment building with 123 units, estimated to be delivered in the spring of 2024. The second phase will add another 113 apartments.
SPEEDWELL will conserve the historical and cultural heritage of the site by refurbishing a monument villa and a section of the former hat factory, this also being an urban regeneration project. Through PALTIM, SPEEDWELL aims to reinvent modern urban living and give back to the city’s residents an important historical spot.
Since launching sales, in October 2021, approximately 50 percent of the available stock of apartments has been sold.
“We are certain the city’s inhabitants will benefit from our project as a new community will form here, while also contributing to the growth of this area,” said Jan Demeyere, Architect and Co-Founder at SPEEDWELL.
PANATTONI TO DELIVER ALMOST 70,000 SQM IN LUBUSZ
Panattoni is to increase the size of its portfolio in the Lubusz region. The developer is to begin work on Panattoni Park Gorzów II, which should eventually comprise 67,000 sqm in three buildings. The first is to have 36,500 sqm and is to be completed this year. Upon completion of the project, the company’s portfolio should comprise more than 700,000 sqm.
“The Lubusz region is one of the places that has benefited the most from the lightning-speed development of the industrial space market in Poland. Being located near the western border means that it can serve clients from Germany as well as further afield on the continent, thus making it a hub for international activity. The potential is shown by the numbers with demand reaching 400,000 sqm in 2021. This is comparable to Kujawy and the TriCity, which are two other rapidly developing regions only beaten by the so-called Big Five,” says Dorota Jagodzińska-Sasson, Managing Director, Panattoni.
The development is also to meet the high standards of sustainable development and is to be certified under BREEAM for a rating of ‘Excellent’ which will make it the first park in the region to be of such a high standard that is owned by Panattoni.