There are few apartments for rent. This makes it difficult for young people to become independent

The smaller the town, the more difficult it is to find a flat for rent, the Polish Economic Institute (PIE) reported. According to experts, the low supply of flats for rent in smaller towns encourages the phenomenon of "nestling", i.e. young adults living with their parents.

As indicated in the "Tygodnik Gospodarczy PIE", citing data from the Central Statistical Office, the greatest availability of apartments for rent is in Warsaw, Krakow, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Łódź and Poznań. Warsaw is the city with the largest number of premises for rent. In May 2025, the total number of new offers for renting apartments in the capital exceeded 9,000. In the five other largest cities - Kraków, Poznań, Gdańsk, Łódź and Wrocław, there were significantly fewer new offers - an average of over 2,700 apartments.

PIE experts pointed out that it is much more difficult to rent an apartment in other counties of Poland, where the offer is more limited. In cities with county rights (apart from Warsaw, Krakow, Wroclaw, Gdansk, Lodz and Poznan), an average of 215 new apartments were put up for rent in May. However, in most Polish counties – referred to as rural counties (a total of 314 units) – an average of 33 apartments were offered.

"The supply of rental apartments in smaller counties and urban centres may make it difficult for young people to become independent. When comparing the average number of apartments made available for rent in individual counties with the number of young people aged 20-29 registered in a given county, it turns out that in Warsaw, for each new apartment there are at least 17 people of this age, in the other five largest cities – at least 24 people of this age, in other cities with county rights – at least 52 people, and in rural counties – at least 251 people," indicated PIE.

The experts noted that the statistics cited may be inaccurate due to the fact that registration records do not fully take into account population flows from smaller to larger counties. "Nevertheless, these data mean that the smaller the county, the more difficult it may be for young people to rent an apartment," they pointed out.

According to PIE economists, the limited availability of rental apartments may contribute to the spread of the so-called nesting phenomenon, i.e. young adults who have not started their own family living together with their parents. "This phenomenon is most often observed in smaller urban centres," PIE noted. (PAP)

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