Castles made on sand

The general complaint voiced by developers throughout Poland is that there are no sites where homes can be built. But those who have set their mind on development along the sea coast really do have something to worry about

It is not merely that there is a lack of plots on the TriCity’s coast, but actually there are none at all. Dealers are trying furiously to pick up remnants of suitable land, offering owners increasingly mind-boggling prices.Paweł Grząbka, a board member of the CEE Property Group remarks that: “There is really very little to say about the prices of plots situated along the coast, since there are just none for sale. Our company’s advice to land owners is to hang on to them since it is a much better business to develop a housing estate on such land and then sell it on for a huge profit.”

 Rare items of information about such plots tend to be passed down the Pomeranian grapevine, which means local investors who know the market better and have closer contacts with local governments are in a privileged position.

Sea beyond the forest

 A local company – Pomeranka – is currently developing a housing estate between Sopot and Gdańsk. Neptun Park is being built on a 7.5-ha plot separated from the Baltic by a forest strip only 80m wide. Twenty five 2- and 3-storey buildings will be built in four stages and will hold flats of between 32 and 200 sqm in size.

The 119 flats in the first phase, which have already been sold, cost between PLN 6,000 and PLN 10,000 per sqm. The second phase will be even dearer, with customers expected to pay between PLN 10,000 and PLN 13,500 per sqm for their homes.

According to Waldemar Kowalski, Pomeranka’s president: “The price difference between the flats stems exclusively from the variety of standards and sizes of the individual buildings and is not related to the distance from the sea or to the view from the windows. I am happy to admit that the interest in the Neptun Park estate has outstripped all expectations. All first-stage investment apartments were sold last year, though they are to be delivered to their owners in September 2007.”

Those who wish to purchase a home near the coast are surely those who appreciate attractive, peaceful surroundings right on the Baltic coast, while also being near a large city centre. Customers from the TriCity region head the list of those who want to move here, while those outside Pomerania treat such a purchase as a capital investment.

Steep prices

 Fluctuations in the prices of coastal properties differ little from the rest of Poland. Data obtained from the Polish Real Estate Market Federation reveal that the prices of homes in Gdynia rose by PLN 2,000 to more than PLN 5,000 per sqm between the first quarter of 2005 and January 2007, the increase being even greater in Gdańsk – from PLN 2,000 to nearly PLN 6,000. Sopot heads the price list, where prices surged by between PLN 2,200 and almost PLN 8,000. But those are average values for the entire TriCity.

Paweł Grząbka stresses that: “Home prices in individual coastal locations are even higher. For instance, they vary between PLN 12,000 and PLN