How profitable is renting out an apartment in Warsaw?

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Is renting out an apartment in Warsaw actually profitable now?

Renting out an apartment in Warsaw is currently a decent income investment for a cash buyer, with roughly 5%–7% gross yields available and something closer to 3.5%–4.5% left after normal costs on many conventional long-term rentals.

That gap between gross and net return explains why Warsaw can look much more profitable on property portals than it feels once someone actually owns the apartment. Global Property Guide's latest 2026 comparison puts Warsaw around 6.8% gross, while Gratka's latest citywide medians imply just under 6%: PLN 4,200 of monthly asking rent against an PLN 850,000 asking purchase price works out to 5.93% a year.

Those are respectable numbers for a major European capital. They also arrive before rental tax, vacancies, repairs, management, furnishing and acquisition costs. A mortgaged buyer has another problem because Polish borrowing costs still sit close to the gross yield available on a normal apartment.

So Warsaw does make money for landlords today. The quality of that return depends heavily on how much we pay for the apartment, whether we borrow to buy it and how much of the management we outsource.

What gross rental yield can a Warsaw apartment make today?

A normal Warsaw apartment can currently produce around 5%–7% gross, and getting much above that usually requires a particularly good purchase, a larger shared apartment or a property that needs more work from the landlord.

The latest Global Property Guide dataset gives Warsaw a 6.81% gross yield for two-bedroom apartments. Studios come in lower at around 5.4%, while one-bedroom apartments are around 5.7%. Its district-level figures spread even further, from the mid-4% range in weaker yield combinations to more than 7% for some larger apartments.

We get a slightly more conservative result from Gratka's current Warsaw listings. Its median apartment is advertised for PLN 850,000 and its median rent is PLN 4,200 a month. Annual rent of PLN 50,400 divided by the asking price gives us 5.93%.

The two datasets use different samples, so we would not force them into one precise Warsaw-wide number. Together, though, they give us a useful range. An investor underwriting around 6% gross is working with a believable assumption. Someone casually assuming 8% across Warsaw is starting from a much more aggressive position.

Are Warsaw rents still rising quickly?

Warsaw rents are still rising, but the market has cooled enough that landlords should stop counting on big annual rent increases to fix a mediocre purchase.

The latest AMRON-SARFiN quarterly report gives Warsaw the strongest annual rent increase among the Polish cities it tracks, at 6.07%. Quarterly movements across the cities remained below 2%, though, which is a very different market from the sudden rent shock Poland went through earlier in the decade.

Other rental databases also show more stability than boom conditions. Otodom has recently recorded Warsaw asking rents around the high-PLN 4,000s per month, while its earlier readings showed periods of flat or slightly negative annual movement depending on apartment mix.

The broader pattern is clearer than any one monthly figure. Warsaw rents are high and still firm, but they are no longer moving so quickly that a landlord can buy badly and expect rising rents to repair the economics within a year or two.

That becomes especially important because apartment prices have started moving again too.

Are Warsaw apartment prices now rising faster than rents?

Warsaw property prices are currently keeping up with rent growth and may already be moving slightly faster, which puts pressure on new buy-to-let yields.

AMRON-SARFiN's latest quarterly data show Warsaw transaction prices rising by almost 4% in a single quarter and roughly 6.5% year on year. The same report puts annual Warsaw rent growth at 6.07%. For an investor, that is basically a tie between asset-price growth and rent growth rather than a clear improvement in rental value.

Gratka gives a calmer picture because it tracks asking prices rather than completed transactions. Its latest full-month reading puts the Warsaw median at PLN 17,150 per square metre, up 2.42% from a year earlier. New-build asking prices were up 4.73%, while the secondary market was up 2.29%.

The disagreement between datasets is useful. Warsaw does not have one clean price trajectory because new projects, resale stock and actual transactions are behaving differently. Still, none of the main evidence suggests that apartments are becoming dramatically cheaper relative to rent.

Today's landlord has to find the yield at the moment of purchase. Waiting for rent inflation to create it later has become a much less convincing strategy.

Which Warsaw districts currently give landlords the best yields?

Warsaw's best rental yields currently appear where apartment prices have not run too far ahead of the rent local tenants will actually pay, and that can happen both in cheaper outer districts and in selected expensive central areas.

Białołęka is the clearest low-entry-price example. Gratka currently puts the district around PLN 14,200 per square metre, far below Warsaw's PLN 17,150 citywide median and well below Wola or Śródmieście. Global Property Guide estimates gross yields around 5.4%–5.8% there depending on apartment size.

Mokotów and Wola show why cheap does not automatically mean profitable. Mokotów costs close to PLN 20,000 per square metre and Wola around PLN 22,200, yet selected two- and three-bedroom apartments still produce stronger estimated yields because tenants pay a large premium to live there. Two-bedroom estimates are around 6.1% in Mokotów and 5.9% in Wola.

Ursynów is a useful counterexample. It is a desirable residential district, but the latest yield samples mostly sit around 4.4%–4.6%. A landlord can buy a perfectly good apartment there and still end up with weaker income economics than in a less prestigious district.

District reputation alone tells us very little about profitability.

Do small apartments make the most money in Warsaw?

Small Warsaw apartments are easy to rent and easy to resell, but current yield data do not show studios consistently beating larger properties.

Global Property Guide's Warsaw sample puts studios at roughly 5.4% gross and one-bedroom apartments around 5.7%. Two-bedroom apartments reach about 6.8%. Some three-bedroom district examples move above 7%, although those figures are much more sensitive to layout and rental strategy.

There is a straightforward reason. Adding bedrooms can increase total rent much faster than it increases the purchase price, especially when an apartment works for several professionals sharing, a family or a corporate tenant.

A 30-square-metre studio still has advantages. The ticket price is lower, the tenant pool is large and an investor can usually exit more easily. Gratka currently puts the median Warsaw studio at around PLN 590,000, which is far more accessible than the PLN 850,000 median across all apartments.

We would therefore separate safety from maximum yield. Studios and compact one-bedrooms are usually the simpler landlord product. Well-designed two- and three-bedroom apartments can make more money when the price per rentable room works in our favor.

What does an PLN 850,000 Warsaw rental actually earn after costs?

An PLN 850,000 Warsaw apartment renting for PLN 4,200 a month is much closer to a 4% net investment than a 6% one once we include normal ownership costs.

At full occupancy, PLN 4,200 a month gives us PLN 50,400 of annual rent and a 5.93% gross yield. Poland then taxes private rental revenue at 8.5% up to PLN 100,000 a year. On PLN 50,400 of collected rent, that tax alone is PLN 4,284.

We also need room for periods without a tenant. A 5% vacancy allowance removes another PLN 2,520 from the annual rent. Maintenance is less predictable, so instead of pretending there is one standard percentage, we can test reserves equal to 0.5% and 1% of the property's value each year. That means PLN 4,250 or PLN 8,500.

A remote owner may also pay for professional management. Warsaw agencies commonly advertise fees around 10% of collected rent, with some offers sitting on either side of that level. At PLN 4,200 a month, 10% management costs up to PLN 5,040 a year.

This is where the headline return gets cut down quickly.

Do Warsaw service charges eat into rental profit?

Warsaw service charges can make an apartment harder to rent, but landlords often pass most building charges to the tenant separately from the base rent.

That distinction is important when we read rental advertisements. A tenant may see a PLN 4,500 or PLN 5,000 total monthly housing cost while only PLN 3,500–PLN 4,000 of that amount actually belongs to the owner. The rest can cover the building administration fee, water advances, heating or other communal charges.

Tenant-market data from Passflat currently show this clearly. Its Warsaw sample has base rents around the mid-PLN 3,000s, with several hundred zlotys of additional monthly charges pushing the tenant's total payment above PLN 4,000. In expensive districts such as Wola, the all-in cost can approach PLN 5,000 even when the landlord's own rent is substantially lower.

For yield calculations, we should use the amount the owner keeps. For tenant demand, we should look at the full bill.

That becomes especially relevant in newer developments with high reception, security, garage or common-area charges. A landlord may technically pass PLN 1,000 of monthly fees through to the tenant, but tenants still compare the PLN 5,000 total cost with competing apartments.

Is it easy to keep a Warsaw rental occupied?

A well-priced Warsaw apartment should currently be relatively easy to keep occupied because the city still has a very deep employment and tenant base.

Warsaw has roughly 1.87 million registered residents. The latest Statistical Office figures show around 1.11 million people employed in the enterprise sector and registered unemployment of just 1.6%. Average enterprise-sector pay is above PLN 11,000 a month.

The employment picture is especially useful for landlords because Warsaw's rental market goes well beyond students and short-term foreign residents. Large numbers of office workers, young professionals, domestic migrants and international employees compete for apartments close to transport and employment hubs.

The latest official construction data also show 8,661 dwellings completed in Warsaw over the first seven months of the year, fewer than in the comparable period a year earlier. That does not point to a sudden wave of new supply overwhelming landlords.

Vacancy can still be expensive at the individual-property level. An apartment advertised 10% above comparable units can sit empty even when the city itself has strong demand. For underwriting, we would still leave several weeks of vacancy in the model rather than assume twelve perfect months.

Can a Warsaw rental make positive cash flow with a mortgage?

A typical Warsaw rental bought with a large mortgage still struggles to produce positive monthly cash flow, even though Polish mortgage conditions have improved substantially.

The latest hard NBP rate quoted by AMRON-SARFiN put the average rate on new housing loans at 5.97% in the first quarter, down more than 1.5 percentage points from a year earlier. Financing has clearly become easier since the peak-rate period, and mortgage demand has surged.

The latest quarterly lending numbers show just how much the market has reopened. Polish banks issued more than 83,000 new housing loans worth PLN 39.7 billion in the second quarter, the highest quarterly loan count since 2007 and a record by value. The average new mortgage reached roughly PLN 476,000.

Now apply a rate around 6% to our PLN 850,000 Warsaw apartment. With a 30% deposit, the mortgage is PLN 595,000. Over 25 years at 5.97%, the repayment is roughly PLN 3,820 a month, or close to PLN 45,900 a year.

The apartment earns PLN 4,200 a month before tax, vacancy, repairs or management. There is barely PLN 400 between gross rent and the mortgage payment before any of those other expenses arrive.

Part of the mortgage payment repays principal, so the owner's wealth can still grow even during negative cash-flow years. But investors specifically looking for monthly income should be very careful with leverage in Warsaw right now.

How much do buying costs reduce a Warsaw landlord's return?

Warsaw buying costs can shave several tenths of a percentage point from the real yield before the landlord has collected the first rent, especially on secondary-market apartments.

Poland generally charges 2% PCC transfer tax on qualifying secondary-market purchases. An PLN 850,000 apartment therefore creates a PLN 17,000 tax bill before we consider notary fees, court registration, brokerage, refurbishment or furnishing.

A landlord who spends PLN 850,000 on the apartment and PLN 17,000 on PCC has already committed PLN 867,000. The same PLN 50,400 annual rent then produces a 5.81% gross return on invested capital rather than 5.93%.

The difference gets bigger with an older apartment that needs work. Add PLN 75,000 of renovation and furniture to that same deal and total capital reaches roughly PLN 942,000. Without any increase in rent, the effective gross yield drops to 5.35%.

This is why we should calculate Warsaw rental yield on the full tenant-ready cost. The sale price alone can make a refurbishment project look deceptively attractive.

Is Airbnb more profitable than long-term renting in Warsaw?

A Warsaw short-term rental can currently generate more gross revenue than a conventional lease, but the extra revenue is much less impressive once we account for the amount of work and operating costs involved.

AirDNA's current Warsaw market data show roughly 11,000 active short-term listings, occupancy around 65% and an average daily rate in the mid-$80s. Average annual revenue is around $19,000 per listing.

At an exchange rate around PLN 3.7 per dollar, that is roughly PLN 70,000 of yearly booking revenue. Compare that with PLN 50,400 from our long-term PLN 4,200-a-month example and the short-term model brings in around 40% more gross revenue.

That PLN 20,000 difference has to cover platform commissions, utilities, internet, cleaning coordination, linen, supplies, more frequent repairs, furnishing replacement and considerably more management. A professional short-term manager can also take a much larger share of revenue than a normal long-term property manager.

For an owner who operates the apartment actively, chooses a strong tourist or business location and manages pricing well, short-term rental can beat a conventional lease. Someone looking for passive income should be much less impressed by the gross-revenue gap.

Are 7%–9% Warsaw rental yields believable?

A 7% Warsaw gross yield is completely believable on the right apartment, while 8%–9% deserves much closer inspection before we assume it will survive in real life.

The district data show why. Global Property Guide estimates roughly 7.0% for some three-bedroom apartments in Wola, 7.5% in Mokotów and 7.6% in Praga-Południe. Those are plausible returns when several bedrooms generate strong combined rent relative to the purchase price.

The same dataset also produces much lower figures for apartments that appear similar at first glance. A three-bedroom in Ursynów comes out near 4.4%, while one in central Śródmieście is around 5.3%.

Bedroom count alone clearly cannot explain a high yield. Layout, price per square metre, renovation condition, local tenant profile and whether rooms can be rented efficiently all matter.

When we see 8% or 9%, we want the calculation based on an achievable rent, the full tenant-ready acquisition cost and a normal vacancy assumption. Plenty of apparently exceptional yields lose two percentage points once one of those numbers is corrected.

Is Warsaw more profitable for landlords than other big Polish cities?

Warsaw currently offers surprisingly strong rental yields for such an expensive capital and compares well with most other large Polish cities.

Global Property Guide's latest two-bedroom comparison puts Warsaw around 6.81% gross. The broader Polish average has recently sat below that level, and several major markets come in closer to the mid-5% range.

That is a useful finding because Warsaw apartments cost considerably more than those in Łódź, Poznań or many parts of Wrocław. Usually, an expensive capital city forces investors to accept a much weaker yield in exchange for liquidity and perceived safety. Warsaw's rent levels keep the gap smaller.

Warsaw also compares well internationally. The same latest European dataset places many expensive Western and Central European residential markets below 5%, with some closer to 3%–4%.

We should still avoid reading too much into a city ranking made from listing samples. But Warsaw's combination of deep demand, relatively strong gross income and a large resale market is genuinely competitive.

Could cheaper mortgages hurt Warsaw landlords?

Falling mortgage costs are good for financed Warsaw landlords, but they are also pulling some renters into homeownership and could keep future rent growth under control.

AMRON-SARFiN's latest report directly points to better mortgage access as one reason rental rates have remained stable from quarter to quarter. Households that previously had to rent can increasingly qualify to buy.

The lending figures show that this shift is already substantial. More than 83,000 new housing loans were granted in the latest quarter, up 14.3% from the previous quarter and roughly 50% from a year earlier by number. Some of that activity is refinancing, but purchase demand has clearly strengthened as well.

That creates a slightly awkward setup for a landlord buying now. Lower rates make the mortgage cheaper, yet stronger buyer demand can push apartment prices upward while reducing part of the rental-demand pressure.

We can already see some of that tension in Warsaw: transaction prices increased around 6.5% year on year in AMRON's latest data while annual rents rose 6.07%.

If borrowing becomes substantially cheaper again, leveraged ownership gets easier while new acquisition yields probably get harder to find.

Does a Warsaw landlord need property prices to keep rising?

A good Warsaw rental should make sense from rent alone, although property appreciation can turn an ordinary 4% net income return into a much stronger long-term investment.

Current Warsaw price data give us enough reason to expect some capital-growth potential without treating it as guaranteed. Gratka's asking-price median is 2.42% higher than a year earlier. Its primary-market price per square metre is up 4.73%. AMRON's transaction-price data show a much faster recent increase of roughly 6.5% year on year.

The difference shows how dangerous it is to build a model around one housing index. Warsaw prices are currently rising, but the exact speed changes a lot depending on whether we look at new developments, resale advertisements or completed transactions.

Suppose a landlord earns 4% net from rent and the apartment appreciates 3% over a year. Before financing, taxes on a future sale and transaction friction, the property has produced around 7% through income plus appreciation.

At 6% appreciation, the same simple total becomes roughly 10%. That is where Warsaw starts looking very attractive.

We would still reject a deal yielding 2% on the assumption that property prices will rise quickly forever. At that point, the rental operation contributes too little and the investment becomes much more dependent on the housing cycle.

What kind of Warsaw apartment looks best for a landlord today?

The most attractive Warsaw buy-to-let today is usually an efficiently priced one- or two-bedroom apartment, or a larger unit with genuinely rentable extra rooms, in an area where transport and employment demand support the rent.

For investors who want simplicity, a compact one-bedroom remains difficult to beat. It has a broad tenant pool, a lower purchase ticket and relatively easy resale. We would still insist on a gross yield around the mid-5% range or better before getting excited.

Two-bedroom apartments become more interesting when we care more about yield. Current Warsaw data put them around 6.8% gross overall, with selected districts around 6% or better. They also work for couples, small families and sharers, which gives the owner several ways to position the same apartment.

Larger apartments become a more specialist strategy. The strongest district examples move above 7%, but those returns depend much more heavily on layout. Three proper bedrooms are valuable; an oversized living room and two awkward bedrooms can produce completely different economics even at the same floor area.

Location should be judged through the rent-to-price relationship rather than prestige. Białołęka can work because the purchase price is low. Mokotów and Wola can work because rents are high enough to offset expensive apartments. A prime address with a 4% gross yield leaves much less room for mistakes.

So how profitable is renting out an apartment in Warsaw today?

Renting out an apartment in Warsaw is currently profitable enough to be interesting, but a realistic long-term investor should think roughly 3.5%–4.5% net before financing rather than expect the 6%–7% gross yield advertised by market comparisons to reach their bank account.

The market itself is healthy. Warsaw rents are still growing, with the latest AMRON-SARFiN report showing a 6.07% annual increase. Registered unemployment is only 1.6%, wages remain high, and the city has more than 1.1 million enterprise-sector employees. Vacancy therefore looks manageable for a sensibly priced apartment.

The acquisition side requires more discipline. Warsaw's latest median asking price is PLN 850,000, transaction prices have recently accelerated again, and a normal apartment around that price produces roughly PLN 50,000 a year in gross rent. Tax, vacancy, repairs and management can reduce that income by PLN 10,000–PLN 20,000 quite quickly.

Leverage is where the answer changes most. Mortgage rates have fallen sharply, but borrowing around 6% to buy a property yielding around 6% gross gives the landlord almost no initial cash-flow spread. With a 70% mortgage on our PLN 850,000 example, the monthly repayment alone comes close to the entire monthly rent.

Cash buyers are in a much better position. A carefully bought apartment producing at least 6% gross can still deliver around 4% net rental income, with any long-term appreciation sitting on top. Selected two- and three-bedroom properties can do better, particularly where the rent per usable bedroom is strong.

So Warsaw is a good buy-to-let market today, especially by big-city European standards, but not an easy one. Around 4% net is a realistic target. Above 5% net is a genuinely good deal. And once a normal long-term rental starts being sold to us as an effortless 7%–8% net investment, we would assume the calculation is missing something until the numbers prove otherwise.

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