Bratislava's residential market has recorded the strongest quarter since the pandemic period. Sales in Bratislava have grown for the fifth quarter in a row, according to the report prepared by BuiltMind in collaboration with Cushman & Wakefield.
In Q4 2024, the number of public sales of new apartments reached 821, which represents a significant increase of more than 70% compared to Q3 2024. The Bratislava market last experienced a similarly strong quarter in Q2 2021. Compared to the values from the fourth quarter of 2023, this is an almost threefold increase in sales.
This large increase in sales was boosted by the decrease in interest rates, as well as the increase in VAT from 1st January 2025. Many buyers accelerated their planned purchase of an apartment due to the expected increase in prices.
In the list of the most successful developers, VI Group took first place with 101 units, replacing traditional leaders such as YIT, JTRE, Cresco, and Penta.
However, other developers also recorded a very strong quarter, when YIT Slovakia finished in second place with 93 public sales, followed closely by Penta Real Estate with 82 public sales. Lucron and ITB Slovakia booked 55 and 54 sales and JTRE 42 public sales. For comparison, in Q3 2024, YIT Slovakia finished first with 48 sales, followed by Penta Real Estate with 38 sales.
While in previous quarters the Bratislava market was able to absorb approximately 15% of the supply, in the fourth quarter more than a quarter of the total supply on the market was sold. The greatest interest was in smaller apartments, which signals a strong investment appetite," stated Martin Decký, CEO at BuiltMind.
"In recent quarters, the most sold projects were located in the more peripheral parts of Bratislava. However, projects around the airport also continued successfully. At current interest rates, buyers prefer smaller and more affordable apartments offered by projects in these locations. We also recorded strong sales in the city centre, especially in Downtown, where several attractive new projects were announced," said Tomáš Némethy, Managing Partner at Cushman & Wakefield Slovakia.
Although sales recorded significant growth, the average prices of new buildings remained at a similar level as in the previous period, around €5,200 per sqm.
"We expect the market to slow down slightly after a record quarter. In 2025, after a slight slowdown in the first quarter, we expect further growth towards 650-750 sales per quarter," added Decký.
