Apartments rent: offers disappear and owners ask to double deposits

– A drop in the number of housing offers occurred a month ago, shortly after the first wave of refugees arrived in Poland. Initially, the result of the free transfer of apartments by private owners was in the reflection of the heart. At the moment, the demand is so great that thousands of offers are disappearing from real estate portals minute by minute, and there are more and more refugees looking for a roof over their heads with us every day – confirms Katarzyna Torska, managing director of redNet 24, a company specializing in the sale of apartment development.

The rental market in 2020 was significantly turbulent as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis. Most people were working remotely or mixed, limiting their presence in the office. For this reason, many of us decided to change our current residence. In addition, the closure has led to the disappearance of not only students, restaurants, trade and hotel workers, but also tourists and businessmen from the rental market.

– The rental market was particularly affected by the epidemic, unlike sales, where demand was greater than supply, despite the high prices. The short-term rental market has suffered the most, as it practically no longer exists overnight, due to the downturn. People stopped traveling, and it was travel-related rentals that generated a lot of traffic in this sector. The pandemic has also changed needs. Remote work meant that Poles began to appreciate a quieter life among nature on the outskirts of big cities. An additional advantage is the fact that you can often rent a studio apartment in the city center, a large apartment or a house in the suburbs for the same money. It can be seen that this trend will continue, because many employers, despite the lifting of restrictions, still decide to work remotely or hybrids for their employees – confirms Maciej Dymkowski, CEO of tableofert.pl.

There is still a cult of monarchy in Poland. Most people would rather buy a ‘tight but owned’ apartment than rent it out. However, society is aging, so the expectations are also different from what they were before. Even before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, there was a growing demand for the rental market. It is largely affected by high inflation, further increases in interest rates, and therefore lower creditworthiness.

The rental market has been shaped over the years. Initially, there was a boom of studios that were rapidly disappearing from the rental market. Later, two-room apartments were very popular. Over the past 15 years, the number of students has increased dramatically, and they prefer to rent a 3-4 room apartment together and share costs, rather than a cramped room in a dormitory. The younger generation is certainly more open to the rental market, they are not tied to one place for the rest of their lives. Nor does he treat living “with someone” as something worse or temporary, but rather as a feeling of freedom associated with not having to repay the loan until the end of his life – notes Katarzina Torska.

The rental market is facing a protracted process of changes, which is just an increase in speed. Institutional rent, due to the change in the attitude of potential tenants, is becoming more and more popular. It is not known how long the war in Ukraine will last. Entire families often flee to our country before the war, which is why the rental market tries to respond to their needs.

Even if the war ends quickly, as we all wish, many refugees will stay with us for much longer. They will learn the language, find a job, look for housing, mainly for rent, and only a few will decide to buy it. It is already clear that there is a need for 3- or 4-room apartments, as well as houses on the outskirts of cities, where related families will live together in a larger area – adds Katarzyna Tworska.

The Polsat Plus group and the Polsat Foundation together for children from Ukraine