One empty month or a year of lower rent: the arithmetic for Warsaw owners this autumn

For a Warsaw owner whose flat has had few viewings, the question is how long to hold the asking rent. In our example, a 200 zł monthly rent discount pays for itself if it brings a tenant about 15 days sooner. Those 15 days mark the point where the two costs meet, a threshold to test against your own flat.

The question is sharper this autumn. In September Warsaw had about 16,900 flats on offer to rent, and the median asking rent held at 4,300 zł, in GetHome.pl figures reported by BANK.pl, drawn from Adradar's count of about 88,500 rental offers across Poland.

September added 1,600 flats and no increase in rent

AUGUST → SEPTEMBER 2026

SEPTEMBER 2025 → SEPTEMBER 2026

Warsaw, flats offered to rent. Source: GetHome.pl figures reported by BANK.pl.

The median held because new listings more than matched the extra demand of the student season. GetHome.pl's expert reads the month the same way: the large offer left owners no grounds to raise rents, even with more tenants searching.

Compared with September 2025, tenants have more flats to choose from, and the median asking rent is lower.

For one owner, this means a tenant looking at your flat now sees more alternatives, at a median asking rent that has not risen. By our reading of the numbers, that pressure falls hardest on flats priced above comparable adverts.

A 200 zł discount costs 2,400 zł a year. One empty month costs about 4,900 zł

The example rests on three assumptions: an asking rent of 4,300 zł a month, near the published median; a building charge of 600 zł a month, which the owner pays while the flat stands empty (a round figure; use the one on your bill); and a rent discount of 200 zł a month, kept for a 12-month lease. With the discount, a tenant is found at once; at the full price, a month later. We take 200 zł as the upper end of the 100 to 200 zł a month that Pewnylokal describes as noticeable savings over a year for a tenant who negotiates.

On these assumptions, the 200 zł discount pays for itself if it lets the flat about 15 days sooner.An empty day costs about 163 zł (4,900 ÷ 30), and 2,400 ÷ 163 gives about 15 days.

A 100 zł discount costs 1,200 zł over the year and needs about 7 days. How many days a discount actually saves for a particular flat appears in no published data, so that part is your judgment.

Compare your flat with the right median

The 4,300 zł median blends every flat size in Warsaw, so it is a rough benchmark for any single flat. In August 2026, GetHome.pl's medians put a Warsaw studio at about 2,700 zł a month, a two-room flat at about 3,800 zł and a three-room flat at about 5,400 zł, as Wprost reported.

The 4,300 zł figure is for September 2026 and the whole city. Read beside the August figures, it illustrates how much flat size moves the price; a change between the two months would need the same measure in both.

A studio set against 4,300 zł looks far below the market, and a three-room flat looks dear. Your flat belongs against the median for its size.

All of these are asking prices from adverts, so a discount agreed at signing appears in none of them.

Two cases where holding the price is reasonable

• A flat already priced at or below the median asking rent for flats of its size. Against those adverts the price already looks competitive, so by our reasoning a further discount adds less. How fast such flats actually let is outside what the data shows.

• The renewal. A lower rent can become the starting point for the next negotiation, so the discount may carry into a second year. That possible cost belongs on the discount's side of the scale.

If both cases fit your flat, holding the price is a defensible choice. If neither does, the arithmetic above leans towards the discount.

Two figures are enough to start: your flat's rent and this month's building charge. Hestium lets you gather your flat's rent and costs in one place and compare them with the market average for similar flats.