By Michelle Smith

Luxury apartment buildings may be a fairly new thing in Poland, with the idea having only been around since the mid 1990's and having really taken off just the last three years, but there is a huge (and growing) demand for them, despite the economic uncertainty gripping the international financial world. These luxury apartments are mostly being constructed in Warsaw, where at present, luxury apartments account for about one third of the residential projects under construction in the city. Having said that, in other large cities such as Kraków, Gdańsk and Wrocław, there are some luxury blocks to be found, as well as in popular vacation resorts such as Zakopane. The apartments in the larger cities tend to be used for residential purposes by their owners, or maybe as short-term rentals for travelling businesspeople who dislike hotels, and they are truly luxurious, both in terms of size and amenities. The holiday apartments, on the other hand, are a bit smaller and are not intended for all-year-round use, nor to be places of full-time residence. Instead, their owners live in them during their vacations, and rent them at premium prices during the tourist high-season from early May to late September. It has to be said, though, that a luxury apartment in Zakopane is in high demand pretty much all the time, since the skiing in the region is truly fantastic, as is the hiking.

So what exactly is a luxury apartment as opposed to, say, a very high-end apartment? The major difference seems to be location: only flats located in the most attractive areas such as in a bustling city center, or with a view of the sea from the bedroom, or nestled at the foot of the mountains can truly be defined as luxury apartments. Such apartments are almost always large, since space is beautiful places is truly a luxury of the highest order, and amenities such as terraces, fireplaces, marble kitchen countertops, swimming pools, parks and greenery and small, hand-crafted details in decor are not perks – they are musts. In a Warsaw Voice article, 'Taste For Luxury', from 2007, Łukasz Penderecki, Director for Marketing in the Wilanów Investments company of the PKO Inwestycje group, defined a luxury apartment quite clearly: “Luxury apartments have a precise definition and the related technical specifications have to be strictly adhered to by the developer. The main points include the finishing standards of the common areas, elevators and usually a vast hall with a reception desk, the layout and dimensions of rooms, in particular a large living space, the building's location near particularly pretty sites or a remarkable location, as in the case of Libeskind's tower, developed by Orco. An important point is direct access to green areas as rest and recreation destinations. Therefore in Warsaw, for example, classic luxury apartment buildings have been built in the neighborhood of the Pole Mokotowskie Park, Morskie Oko Park and Saski Gardens. Another distinguishing feature of luxury apartment buildings is the high level of security provided to the residents.”

Luxury for some

In the same article. Penderecki was asked about who is buying these luxury apartments, since the assumption is that wealthy foreigners (mostly Brits and Americans) are snapping them all up. But Penderecki offered a different point of view: he claimed that the overwhelming majority of his firm's customers were Poles, but according to media and market research company reports, in terms of non-Poles, it was the Irish and Spanish who are the most interested in the real estate market in Poland.

Many people find it intriguing that it is Poles who are buying the majority of the luxury apartments in the country, since among many Europeans there is (unfortunately) still a belief that Poles are simply not as well-off financially as people in England, Germany or France. This view is largely based on association with Poles who work in these countries: they are by and large skilled labourers, students waitressing and practicing their languages, plumbers and construction workers. But according to Gfk Polonia's December 2007 market reasearch survey, over 2 million Poles have savings that are in excess of PLN.1 million (about € 270,000), which means that among these Polish elite, there is a demand for luxuries – cars, jewels, clothes and homes.

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