Every third person planning to buy an apartment by the coronavirus changed their plans

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The epidemic and the related economic turmoil influenced the decisions and housing expenditures of Poles. Already 17% of those planning to buy property had to change their plans. Every third person gave up on them at all, and 65% postponed their spending in time, according to the CBRE survey. Changes in decisions can also be seen in drops in sales of apartments, which in the largest cities reached 37-55%. The coronavirus also affected the costs of maintaining an apartment or house. More than a quarter of Poles noticed that they are now higher than before the outbreak.

– Uncertainty related to the coronavirus has influenced the tendency of Poles to spend large amounts. We will have to wait a while longer for the increased demand for housing. Especially since most of the respondents expected price drops, which have not taken place so far, and in some cities the quotas even increased slightly. And it may turn out that there will be no such price cuts at all, especially in the best locations in large cities. However, we expect that after the downturn caused by the uncertainty on the market, Poles will return to the implementation of the abandoned plans and interest in apartments will slowly come back – says Marcin Jański, head of the Alternative Real Estate and Investment Land Department at CBRE.

Interest in apartments down

Among all Poles, 17% have changed their plans for spending on a new house or apartment due to the outbreak of the epidemic. The majority of this group (65%) did not give up completely, but only postponed them to a later date. 35% of those planning to buy a new home gave up completely. As a result, the sale of apartments in Polish cities in the second quarter of the year has decreased in comparison with the year before. According to the data of the redNet Property Group and CBRE, the highest number of apartments was in Warsaw, Łódź and the Tri-City, by about 50%. The least affected was Poznań, where the decrease is only about 10%.

Maintenance costs upwards

An increase in the cost of maintaining an apartment or house, which was felt by 28% of those asked in the CBRE study, could also have had an impact on stopping the decision to buy a property. Higher prices were most visible for residents of medium and large cities, where the group admitting to additional expenses for an apartment exceeded 30%. Only 8% of all Poles claim that the epidemic reduced housing costs and 49% see no change.

– The increase in spending on housing of such a large group can be explained in two ways. One is rising inflation and generally higher prices of most goods. However, taking into account the fact that the increase in spending on the maintenance of current housing was felt primarily by residents of large and medium-sized cities, where the percentage of people working from home was also the highest, one can find links between these phenomena. The mass phenomenon of remote working forced the Poles to invest more in adjusting their jobs at home, it also means higher spending on energy and other products, which before the pandemic was provided by the employer during the week – says Agnieszka Mikulska, an expert in the housing department of CBRE.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The study was conducted on the Ariadne panel on a nationwide sample of N=1095 people. Amounts selected according to the representation in the population of Poles aged 18 and over for gender, age and size of place of residence. Deadline for implementation:  4-7 September 2020. Method: CAWI.

Source: CBRE