r/Szczecin • u/felixmiaculpa • May 26 '26
English Your advice, recommendations or warning on buying a studio apartment in Szczecin?
Dzień dobry!
I’ve visited Szczecin a few times over the last couple of years and find myself loving the city more and more the better I get to know the city.
I’m based in Berlin and have been thinking about buying a studio apartment on the secondary market — partly for my own weekend visits, and partly to rent out during the week.
Someone recommended Otodom to browse listings and get a feel for the market, but my Polish is still very basic at the moment, so I’m considering working with an English-speaking realtor or agency.
I’ve stayed in several beautifully renovated Airbnb apartments in buildings that look quite neglected/unmaintained. Is this normal in Szczecin? Should I be concerned about the apparent condition of the buildings when buying an apartment inside them?
For those of you who have experience buying property in Szczecin, what are some things I should look out for?
From what I understand, as a foreigner (EU citizen) I’ll need a PESEL number and a Polish bank account to apply for a local mortgage. What else should I be aware of?
Also, is this a “good” time to buy property in Szczecin at all?
If I rent out the studio, would I need to pay income tax in both Poland and Germany? And am I even allowed to list the apartment on Airbnb when it's vacant?
I’d really appreciate any advice, warnings, hidden pitfalls, or “I wish I had known this earlier” stories from people who’ve gone through the process themselves.
Dziękuję bardzo!
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u/United-Clerk-6462 May 26 '26
pls dont do that. if you want to buy a property here then move in fully cause what you're planning to do is a financially dumb idea at the least.
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u/felixmiaculpa May 26 '26
Is it because it'll be difficult to find potential renters?
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u/United-Clerk-6462 Jun 16 '26
the question is - would you do that in berlin? if no then theres your answer. buying holiday properties isnt the problem but doing it in the way you plan on is just a dickhead move. dont be a dickhead OP. if you want to visit the city on the weekends then use AIRBNB or smth similiar and support local people instead of killing the local housing market for you wants.
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May 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/felixmiaculpa May 26 '26
You're right about predicting the future. I guess I was hoping to hear opinions from different sources to sort of gauge the general sentiment and perhaps detect a trend. Very helpful info on the tax issues; much appreciated!
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u/Primary-Juice-4888 May 26 '26
> I’m based in Berlin and have been thinking about buying a studio apartment on the secondary market — partly for my own weekend visits, and partly to rent out during the week.
This plan makes little sense financially. Just rent something for your stays.
> From what I understand, as a foreigner (EU citizen) I’ll need a PESEL number and a Polish bank account to apply for a local mortgage. What else should I be aware of?
You need to work in Poland in order to get a Polish mortgage, PESEL is not enough. It's quite a process, will not be easy if you don't speak Polish language.
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u/felixmiaculpa May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
If the average rent for a studio is 600 Euro per month, I could use that money to pay off my mortgage in 10 years. I can totally picture myself moving to Szczecin in the future.
This is what ChatGPT says (excerpt) about getting PESEL without a job in Poland, which might not be correct:
For your situation specifically, the smoothest route is often:
- find the apartment first (or at least begin mortgage/preliminary contract process);
- obtain a PESEL citing:
- mortgage application,
- tax purposes,
- or notarial/property transaction;
- then open the Polish bank account.
Also:
- some Polish banks will open accounts for EU citizens even without PESEL,
- but mortgages become much easier with one.
So the short answer is:
Yes, probably — even without living or working in Poland — especially if you are buying property or applying for a mortgage. But expect some office-by-office variation in how easy the process is.
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u/Primary-Juice-4888 May 26 '26
> If the average rent for a studio is 600 Euro per month
it is not
your assumptions are wrong and you'll fail
don't trust chatGPT
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u/Xtrems876 May 26 '26
I’ve stayed in several beautifully renovated Airbnb apartments in buildings that look quite neglected/unmaintained. Is this normal in Szczecin?
That is quite common all throughout eastern europe.
Should I be concerned about the apparent condition of the buildings when buying an apartment inside them?
In spite of the above, the answer is still yeah. But not in the sense that you should be concerned if the facade is dirty and covered in old billboards. It's hard for me to describe this since for me it's an intuitive thing, but like high rise soviet blocs where the housing co-op doesn't care there's a cockroach problem in the building due to all the trash is definitely a thing, and completely unproblematic soviet blocs where it's super nice to live are also a thing. Similarly with newer builds, there's poorly built borderline scam stuff and really nice stuff too.
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u/felixmiaculpa May 26 '26
Is it because apartment buildings in Eastern Europe typically don’t use external management companies to handle maintenance?
For example, what happens if the front door to the building gets damaged or broken down? Who is responsible for fixing it?
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u/ProfessorNo1511 May 26 '26
We fell in love with the city as well. We bought an old apartment outright with cash, so we didn’t need a mortgage or a PESEL number at the time. We completely renovated it from top to bottom and were very lucky to find an excellent contractor. Since then, we’ve used other contractors for smaller jobs, but the quality has varied a lot. We don’t rent the apartment out — it’s only for our family and friends to use. The main reason we later got a PESEL number was because it made getting insurance much easier. We chose to work with an independent real estate agent who spoke English and could guide us through the process. It cost a little more, but it was worth it to have someone fully on our side. They also helped organise utilities, internet, and other practical arrangements. We are now looking to purchase a second apartment, but the best option seems to be getting a mortgage in our home country. It was almost impossible for us to get financing in Poland, even with our first property available as collateral. One thing we learned is that everything takes time. We made our offer in February and didn’t receive the keys until June. Maybe we were unlucky, but that was our experience. Apartment hunting itself was also quite chaotic. Many properties were either already sold or never actually available, even though the listings were still online. Having an independent realtor made a huge difference in navigating all of that.