Poland: Are housing developers planning to increase investment activity

Are housing developers planning to step up their activity and bring more flats to the market? What projects will they propose this year? What kind of flats will they include? At what price?

Tomasz Kaleta, Sales Department Director, Develia S.A..
Due to increased demand, we are accelerating the realisation of some of our investments. In addition, this year two new projects purchased with building permits issued, i.e. Bochenka Vita in Krakow and Sikorskiego Vita in Warsaw, will go on sale.

The scale of our operations will also be significantly influenced by the acquisition of the developer Nexity, thanks to which we will strengthen our position among the leading developers in Poland, increase the scale of operations in Warsaw and Krakow and enter the Poznań market, which is completely new to us. Excluding Nexity's projects, we plan to launch at least 2,000 flats by the end of the year.

Angelika Kliś, board member of Atal S.A.
We have revised our sales expectations for this year to the positive. However, in order to ensure the regular level of our offer, we maintain constant production activity, in line with the schedule adopted for this year. By the end of the year, we still have plans to launch 13 projects or their subsequent phases, with a total of around 4,000 flats. These will be projects in all the regions where we are currently active.

The profile, the structure of the offer and the prices in the individual developments are based on a number of considerations, including the class of the building, its location and the preferred target group. Therefore, newly launched flats will be differentiated in terms of price.

Cezary Grabowski, Sales and Marketing Director of Bouygues Immobilier Polska
We are still intensively expanding our portfolio with new developments and this year we plan to introduce nearly 400 flats in four projects in Warsaw. The new estates will be built in such districts as Bemowo and Włochy. These will be investments in very well-communicated locations, with functional layouts of one- to four-room flats and varying floor areas from 28 sqm to 120 sqm. The price range, depending on the investment, will be from PLN 13,000 to PLN 19,000 gross per square metre.

Zuzanna Należyta, commercial director at Eco Classic
In the next six months we are planning to introduce 4 new investments to the market. These will include locations in Łódź, Warsaw and Gdańsk.

Małgorzata Ostrowska, Director of Marketing and Sales Division at J.W. Construction
In the second half of the year, we will be launching investments implemented in the frame technology, which is currently one of our main development directions, responding to the needs of our increasingly economically and environmentally conscious clients. We have already completed very successful single-family house projects at the Villa Campina estate near Warsaw, which were built using this technology. We enrich the timber frame technology and prefabricated houses manufactured at our factory in Tłuszcz with additional solutions such as recuperation, photovoltaics or heat pumps.

We already have on sale an intimate, 'green' investment Naturalnie Aluzyjna located in Warsaw's Białołęka district. In the near future, the ECOBerensona estate, also located in Białołęka, will be added to the offer, as well as the Apartamenty na Wzgórzu flats in Zawada near Kraków.

The ECOBerensona estate will feature 267 flats located in nine three- and four-storey buildings. Flats from the first stage of the project, ranging in size from 25 sqm to 67 sqm, will be available as early as August.
Apartamenty na Wzgórzach, on the other hand, are located in the Malopolska town of Zawada, near Myślenice, with excellent access to Krakow. It is a green enclave with numerous amenities, such as a private forest or a tennis court. The first stage of this project comprises nine cosy, three-storey buildings with 161 flats with areas starting from 25 sqm. The investment will mark our debut in the Malopolska region.

Boaz Haim, president of Ronson Development
We keep a very close eye on the property market to avoid being unable to respond to the demand from our customers. In most of the cities where we are present, we have secured our land bank and we are successively launching both the construction of the next stages of our existing investments and new projects.

We plan to launch a new Warsaw project Zielono Mi in Lower Mokotow in September, provided we receive a building permit, where nearly 100 flats will be built. Also in September, we plan to launch the sales and construction of the next, third stage of the Viva Jagodno project in Wrocław. In addition, we are looking at launching stage 5 of Szczecin's Nowe Warzymice project with mini homes on offer. We are also planning a new project in Poznań with almost 50 houses on Bełchatowska Street in the Grunwald district. This investment should start at the turn of the year.

Joanna Chojecka, sales and marketing director for Warsaw and Wrocław at Robyg Group
In 2023, we are planning sales in Poland at the level of over 3,300 flats and handovers of about 3,500 units. We also assume to maintain margins at the level of last year.

We have a land bank for more than 15 thousand flats, but starting projects is not easy and this is the biggest barrier to market development. The waiting time for obtaining a building permit has now increased to about 1.5 -2 years, whereas it used to be 6-9 months.

The signing of an agreement with the CenterBridge fund was very important for our development. Our cooperation has taken off and several projects are already underway. The important thing is that with a partner, we can think about larger purchases. The competition for transactions involving smaller spaces is high, and the larger the project, the fewer interested parties there are. We hope that with the support of the fund we will be able to buy projects that we would probably not buy on our own.

Dawid Wrona, board member at Archicom
In our case, all decisions related to the implementation of development investments are conditioned by a careful analysis of the real demand from potential buyers. When the market sends us a message about growing demand, we take appropriate and well-considered steps. Accordingly, in the first half of 2023, we launched further stages of the Sady nad Zieloną and Awipolis investments in Wrocław.
We are closely observing the market situation, so we are planning to launch sales in the coming months in estates located in all cities where we are present as the Echo-Archicom Group. Our diversified offer will soon include diverse flats available in Warsaw, Łódź, Poznań, Kraków and Wrocław, attractive both to individual customers and investors.

Bartosz Kuźniar, CEO of Lokum Deweloper
We are constantly working to expand our offer so that we can present our customers with a wide selection of flats, tailored to their preferences and requirements, but also to their purchasing capacity. However, it should be remembered that the implementation of a development project is a complex and time-consuming process, dependent on obtaining the necessary administrative decisions, project financing and the adopted strategy. We take a multi-faceted approach to planning new estates. We take into account the current state of the market, the situation of purchasers and land prices, the costs of implementing the project, the possibilities of obtaining and the conditions of financing the investment. We want to offer our customers the best product on the market. However, we also have to take into account both the prices of flats that buyers will be able to accept and the profitability of each project to ensure the smooth operation of the company. In the near future, we plan to launch a brand new project in Wrocław. About 140 flats from the first stage of this development will be on offer.

Mariola Żak, sales and marketing director at Aurec Home
The current supply on the real estate market does not keep up with demand, so we have accelerated the pace of introducing new investments to our offer. At the end of June this year, we launched the sale of flats from the next stage of Tomorrow's Town - the Lavender Quarter. The project consists of three residential buildings with about 100 modern, comfortable and cosy flats. Two intimate estates located in Warsaw's Bialoleka district are under construction: My Forest, with a private forest accessible only to residents, and My River, with a water space for sports activities and relaxation. Most of our flats fit the criteria of the 2% Safe Credit programme. We build compact units with comfortable living space at budget prices.

Damian Tomasik, founder of Alter Investment
The last few months have definitely shown increased activity on the part of our customers, who are looking for more land with planning permission. This year, our offer of such ready-to-build projects will be joined by an investment at Madalińskiego Street in Gdańsk with 23 flats of approximately 43 sqm. We consider such a metre of residential units to be optimal in the current market situation.

Source: dompress.pl
Photo: Viva Jagodno - Ronson