Tuesday, 8 September 2026
Poland is adding housing and parts of its commercial property stock considerably faster than Czechia, with the difference remaining substantial even after adjusting for the countries’ very different populations.
Almost 209,000 homes were completed in Poland during 2025, compared with 33,430 in Czechia. This represented approximately 5.6 new homes per 1,000 inhabitants in Poland against just over 3 in Czechia, putting Polish residential delivery roughly 80% higher on a per-capita basis.
The difference is also visible further along the development pipeline. Construction started on 212,400 Polish homes during 2025, compared with 35,819 in Czechia. Adjusted for population, the Polish rate was around 70% higher. At a comparable development intensity, Czech annual housing completions would be closer to 60,000 units rather than the approximately 33,000 currently being delivered.
“The difference can no longer be explained simply by Poland being a larger country. The key comparison is per capita. Poland has been able to bring significantly more new supply to the market over the long term. This is crucial for housing prices because when demand grows and supply cannot respond, the pressure is transferred into apartment and development land prices,” said Miroslav Barnáš, CIO of ARETE Real Estate.
A similar difference can be seen in retail development. Around 235,000 sqm of new retail space was delivered in Poland during the first half of 2026, compared with approximately 38,300 sqm in Czechia. At the end of June, another roughly 650,000 sqm was under construction in Poland, against 146,800 sqm in the Czech market.
Part of Poland’s advantage comes from the number of cities capable of supporting significant development. Warsaw is complemented by Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Łódź, the Tri-City and Upper Silesia, giving developers a broader range of markets in which residential, retail and commercial concepts can be replicated.
“Poland gives developers the opportunity to repeat a successful concept across numerous cities. They do not have to depend on a single metropolitan market. This is particularly important for retail parks, logistics and residential projects because a larger number of economically viable locations makes it possible to scale development,” Barnáš said.
Industrial and logistics property provides an important counterpoint. Poland had approximately 38 million sqm of modern logistics stock by Q2 2026, compared with 13.7 million sqm in Czechia. On a population-adjusted basis, however, Czechia has more logistics space, at approximately 1.26 sqm per inhabitant compared with around 1.02 sqm in Poland.
For ARETE, this suggests that Czechia’s lower housing and retail development volumes cannot simply be attributed to insufficient capital or a lack of development expertise. Where suitable sites, infrastructure and workable development conditions exist, the Czech market has demonstrated its ability to support substantial construction.
Poland has also benefited from sustained investment in transport infrastructure, which has expanded the number of locations capable of accommodating logistics, manufacturing, retail and residential projects. This has helped development spread beyond the largest metropolitan areas and created additional investment corridors.
“The Czech problem is not a shortage of investors prepared to build. Logistics demonstrates the opposite. The weakness is the limited number of locations where projects can be prepared quickly, predictably and at scale. Poland has been considerably more successful in using its size and infrastructure to its advantage,” Barnáš concluded.
The comparison highlights a broader challenge for Czech real estate. Increasing housing supply will depend not only on investor appetite, but also on creating more locations where development can proceed at sufficient scale. Poland’s experience shows how a deeper network of regional markets and infrastructure can translate economic size into significantly greater property supply.
