Warsaw tops Poland’s 2026-Q1 city price rankings at 16,393 PLN/m²

Warsaw leads, and the gap is wide

Poland’s latest city price ranking is a familiar story at the top, but the spread is what stands out. In 2026-Q1, Warsaw remained the most expensive city in the NBP BaRN secondary-market ranking at 16,393 PLN/m². Kraków followed at 15,110 PLN/m², with Gdańsk in third at 13,870 PLN/m².

At the other end, Łódź was the cheapest of the cities listed here at 7,971 PLN/m². That puts the gap between the priciest and the least expensive city in this set at 8,422 PLN/m². The median price across the broader dataset was 9,378 PLN/m², which sits far below the big-three leaders.

The ranking table

The top five are packed into a relatively tight band above 12,000 PLN/m², but the line drops after Gdynia. Rzeszów and Poznań sit in the middle of the pack, both above 10,000 PLN/m². Lublin closes the list at 9,879 PLN/m², still above the median but well below the coastal and capital-city premium.

What the data shows

This is a secondary-market ranking from NBP BaRN, so these are transaction prices, not asking prices. That matters: the numbers reflect what changed hands in notarial deeds, not what sellers hoped to get.

The structure of the ranking is clear:

• Warsaw is the only city above 16,000 PLN/m².
• Kraków remains the closest challenger, but still trails Warsaw by 1,283 PLN/m².
• Gdańsk, Wrocław and Gdynia form the next cluster, all between 12,357 PLN/m² and 13,870 PLN/m².
• Rzeszów, Poznań and Lublin sit below 11,000 PLN/m².

That spread says as much about local demand and city hierarchy as it does about apartment stock. Buyers moving between these cities are not dealing with small differences; they are crossing several price bands.

Where the cheaper end sits

The least expensive cities in the wider dataset were led by Łódź at 7,971 PLN/m², followed closely by Bydgoszcz at 8,033 PLN/m² and Katowice at 8,054 PLN/m². Kielce came in at 8,125 PLN/m², while Zielona Góra rounded out the five lowest at 8,528 PLN/m².

That cluster is much tighter than the top end. The spread among the five cheapest cities is only 557 PLN/m². By comparison, the top five span 4,036 PLN/m² from Warsaw to Gdynia.

Transit and city-centre context

For people comparing cities from an expat or relocation angle, the practical question is not just “which city is cheapest?” but “how much of the market am I paying for?” The premium in Warsaw and Kraków often reflects central jobs, larger demand pools and the pull of dense urban transit and services. Gdańsk and Gdynia also sit in a higher-price coastal bracket, while cities like Łódź, Bydgoszcz and Katowice remain far below the capital in this ranking.

If you want to drill into a specific city or area, use the live market pages here: Housing market.

Developer register datasets worth watching

This article is about transaction prices, not developer asking prices. Still, the ranking is a useful backdrop when tracking new-build launches: the same city can look very different once mandatory asking prices enter the picture.

For buyers watching new supply, the key cities in this ranking are worth comparing against developer entries over time, especially in Warsaw, Kraków, Gdańsk and Wrocław. The transaction side tells you what the market cleared at in Q1 2026; developer data shows what new units are being advertised at now.

Practical takeaway

The main message from 2026-Q1 is simple: Poland’s city market is still split into distinct price tiers. Warsaw and Kraków remain in a league of their own, Gdańsk and Wrocław are close behind, and a separate lower-cost band runs through Łódź, Bydgoszcz and Katowice.

For anyone comparing cities, the difference between the top and bottom of this ranking is large enough to change location decisions, apartment size targets and the kind of buildings you can realistically consider. The ranking does not tell you everything about a city, but it does show where the price pressure is strongest.

Quick read on the numbers

• Highest city: Warsaw — 16,393 PLN/m²
• Lowest city in the set: Łódź — 7,971 PLN/m²
• Median across the dataset: 9,378 PLN/m²
• Source: NBP BaRN secondary-market prices