Wroclaw is the winner of the 10th Ranking of Cities

The Ranking of Cities is organised by the Polish Association of Developers (PZFD). It is aimed at selecting local governments with the friendliest attitude to the development of housing and commercial investments in Poland.

When the winner is being chosen, the criterion of evaluation is the time of issuing decisions on construction conditions along with the coverage of cities with spatial development plans and the time of obtaining decisions on building permits. From this edition on, the efficiency of administration is also checked in the case of office and hotel investments. The ranking has also been extended to all cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.

Timeliness problems

As can be seen from this year’s list, the previous year in all Polish cities turned out to be the worst with regard to the timeliness of issuing decisions on construction conditions over the last three years.

‘In 2019, the timeliness of issuing decisions dropped towards 2018, although their number remained on a similar level,’ says Mateusz Stachewicz, a lawyer from the Polish Association of Developers and the author of the report. ‘The fact that a large part of decisions is issued after the due date shows that the complexity and prolonged time of procedures within the investment & construction process are troublesome even for offices.’

In provincial cities, a total of more than 1,000 decisions on construction and land development conditions concerning multi-family housing investments was issued last year. Only 10.53% of them were issued within the statutory time-limit – up to 60 days, which has been the poorest score since 2016.

In the case of office and hotel investments in 2019, Wroclaw was one of the most efficient cities. The investors received all decisions here within the specified time-limit.

It is easier to get a new apartment in Wroclaw

Prices of apartments and the stability of the housing market are heavily influenced by the number of apartments offered by developers and their ability to replenish supply in a flexible way.

‘We can see this clearly on the example of two markets that ranked at the top and bottom of PZFD's ranking,’ says Katarzyna Kuniewicz, the head of the Housing Market Research and Analysis Team of JLL. ‘In December 2019, customers willing to purchase an apartment in Krakow – a city with 780,000 inhabitants – could choose from among 7,500 apartments; in Wroclaw, where 640,000 people live, 10,100 apartments were on offer. This means that one of 104 Krakow inhabitants could buy a new apartment; in Wroclaw, this ratio was more favourable, amounting to 63. And only among those who officially live in these cities,’ she adds.

The Ranking of Cities is created on the basis of data submitted to the Polish Association of Developers by local administrative bodies in the mode of access to public information.

Rivalry mobilises

‘I would like to thank all local government officials for their co-operation and the Polish Association of Developers for the organisation of this ranking,’ says Jakub Mazur, the deputy mayor of Wroclaw.  ‘Apart from time-limits imposed by laws, it is a mobilising factor for us. I pass my congratulations to investors, architects, and all studios that talk to us every day and I am happy that we develop our relations as a partnership. Wroclaw is open to co-operation and investors,’ stresses the deputy mayor.

The Polish Association of Developers is the biggest industry organisation in Poland that takes action on the national and European level to improve the real property market and investment conditions. PZFD comprises more than 200 companies from Poland. It is a member of Build Europe (formerly the European Union of Developers and House Builders). It has operated since 2002.