Buy a Flat in Szczecin: Prices and Rules for Foreign Buyers

Szczecin has a grand riverside embankment, a prize-winning philharmonic hall, parks and a large port. The Baltic coast and the Szczecin Lagoon are within reach, and Berlin is a train ride away across the border.

Universities and a port economy support steady rental demand, and the cost of living is low by west European standards.

EU/EEA nationals can buy flats and, with some conditions, houses and land, while non-EEA buyers generally need a permit from the Ministry of Interior for most real estate, with exceptions such as apartments. Check your case with a Polish lawyer.

A notary executes the sale, and the civil-law transactions tax is 2% on resale property, paid by the buyer. Check the land and mortgage register (księga wieczysta) and the co-owners' fund. See our Poland buying guide and mortgage guide.

Many Szczecin flats are in pre-war tenements or in post-war blocks, so check the age of the building, the state of the roof and staircase and the community's repair fund. Make sure the flat has its own land and mortgage register entry; cooperative ownership rights are a different legal form and can complicate financing. A Polish notary will review the register before signing, but you should also ask a lawyer to check for debts.

The nearby list for Szczecin falls back to larger Polish cities, so these are other markets: Warsaw and Kraków. See Poland property.