Residential real estate market on verge of downturn

According to analysts, some 20% of apartments purchased in large towns were bought purely as investments. "In my opinion about 10% of apartments put on sale in Warsaw belong to the so-called group of second-hand market of the primary market," said Marcin Jańczuk, development director at Polanowscy Nieruchomości. Other experts support this opinion and believe that this trend may soon find an echo in other cities, such as Kraków, Wrocław and Poznań. This especially concerns speculative small time investors who soon might have difficulty in keeping up with mortgage payments. A lot on hinges on whether big investors will stick with the market believing in the viability of the long-term rental market, or whether they will decided to call it a day and cash in their assets. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, B1) M.M.