Changes in the Housing Market in Cracow During COVID-19 Pandemics
Purpose - The objective of the paper is to assess the changes in the Cracow housing market in pandemic times, comparing Q12020 and Q12021.
Methodology - To access the changes in the residential real estate market in Cracow, details of 21,115 listings have been collected from the listing website, Otodom. The data has been cleansed in terms of duplicate observations, missing data, and outliers. The data has been summarized in regards to the number of listings, average listing price, and average floor area.
Findings - The Cracow residential market has been experienced with the change of the number of offers, average price, and average floor area. The severity of those changes differs in each submarket. The rental market has shrunk, the average listing price and the average floor area of an apartment dropped. The most impacted regions are those near the city centre. The primary sales market has been blocked, many investments have been put on hold, therefore the number of offers dropped. However, the prices on the market keep rising. The average floor area of apartments has noted a slight decline. The secondary sales market has been more active than the previous ones. The number of offers doubled but on the other hand, average prices and average floor area of apartments declined.
Research limitations - The conducted study has been performed based on listings, then those data do not reflect real events occurring on the market. Therefore, analysis formed on transaction prices is needed. Additionally, using average as a metric may lead to bias as offered apartment structure differs between subperiods.
Research implications - The study confirmed that changes are taking place in the housing market in Cracow in the COVID-19 times. It should be noted that it is not determined if those changes are permanent, therefore further studies are required.
Keywords: housing market; COVID-19; housing preferences; housing prices
JEL codes: D10, L85, O18, R31
Article type: research paper
CITATION (APA): Szczepek, M. (2021). Changes in the Housing Market in Cracow During COVID-19 Pandemics. World of Real Estate Journal, 115(1), 20-47.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14659/WOREJ.2021.115.02
