Kraków or Warsaw 2026: where are apartments cheaper?

Median asking prices: Kraków 16,000 PLN/m² vs. Warsaw 17,636 PLN/m² — a difference of 1,636 PLN per meter, or approximately 82,000 PLN for a 50-square-meter apartment (dimdom, 2026).

Both markets are stagnant: the month-on-month change is 0% in both cities (dimdom, 2026).

The negotiation gap is larger in Warsaw (approx. 1,800 PLN/m²) than in Kraków (approx. 900 PLN/m²) — therefore, the actual difference in transaction prices is smaller than what is seen in listings (NBP, 2026; dimdom, 2026).

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Asking prices: table

Segment (median)

Kraków

Warszawa

Apartments for sale (PLN/m²)

16,000 (n=1396)

17,636 (n=1189)

Houses for sale (PLN/m²)

10,774 (n=103)

11,073 (n=36)

Plots for sale (PLN/m²)

270 (n=49)

1,000 (n=112)

Apartment rentals (PLN/m²)

62 (n=97) n/a (sample too small)

All listing figures: dimdom, 2026. The largest gap is found in land plots. Land near Warsaw costs nearly 4 times as much as land near Kraków. This is a result of urbanization pressure and lower land supply around the capital.

Transaction prices: the gap is narrowing

However, in notarial deeds, the difference shrinks. Q2 2026: Warsaw 16,783 PLN/m² (+2.4% y/y), Kraków 15,923 PLN/m² (+1.4% y/y) — a distance of approx. 860 PLN/m², nearly half of what is seen in advertisements (NBP, 2026). In the secondary market, Warsaw is actually becoming cheaper year-on-year (-1.7%), while asking prices remain stagnant (NBP, 2026).

How much you need to start

A 50 m² apartment based on the median asking price: Kraków 800,000 PLN, Warsaw 881,800 PLN. With a 20% down payment, this is 160,000 PLN vs. 176,360 PLN. The 16,360 PLN difference in the down payment alone also translates into a higher installment due to the larger loan. With an average interest rate on new loans of 5.97% (NBP/AMRON, 2026), every additional 100,000 PLN of credit means about 640 PLN more per month over 30 years.

Verdict

In summary, Warsaw is about 10% more expensive in listings and about 5% more expensive in transactions — but it has a deeper market (1,189 listings), greater liquidity for new builds, and stronger cash-based demand. Kraków offers a lower entry threshold and comparable price stability. An investor calculating rental yield will find better math in Kraków (rates of 62 PLN/m² at a price of 16,000 PLN/m² yield approx. 4.6% gross), as Warsaw rental rates are not keeping pace with purchase prices.

Listings: apartments for sale in Kraków, apartments for sale in Warsaw and houses for sale in Kraków. Macro background and full data: real estate price report. Macro background: NBP/ZBP housing market.

Supply: developers are delivering more apartments

In the first half of 2026, 94.9 thousand apartments were completed, 3.2% more than the previous year (GUS, 2026). The growing supply of new apartments is good news for buyers in the secondary market: the more new units there are, the lower the demand pressure on used ones. Data: GUS: housing construction.

Methodology

Listings: active dimdom ads, September 2026, after removing extreme values (dimdom, 2026). Transactions and loans: NBP and AMRON-SARFiN (NBP, 2026). For Warsaw, there is no reliable rental median from dimdom (sample below threshold) — we are not estimating it forcibly.

Sources: NBP: Quarterly information, ZBP: housing market Q1 2026, AMRON-SARFiN 1/2026.