Real estate with a vision
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“Our mission is to improve our clients’ quality of life,” states Waldemar Wasiluk, Vice President of Victoria Dom S.A. since 2013. The company was founded by the Jasiński family in 1998. “We still have the same shareholders, and we have been active quite succesfully in the development of residential real estate for over 20 years now.”
With several projects in Warsaw, Victoria Dom soon became one of the largest developers in single-family houses. Eleven years ago, the company expanded into multiresident developments as well, which gained a lot of momentum.
The financial crisis of 2008 affected the company up to and including 2011, but by 2013, business had picked up again. At the time, Victoria Dom was restructured to allow further growth in Poland and expansion abroad as well. In the last six to seven years, the firm has grown constantly.
From 2015 on, it added bigger projects with 600 to 700 apartments to its portfolio. One year later, the company also opened a branch office in Germany, and it has several residential projects in Berlin now. A true milestone was reached in 2018: the year that saw the 20th anniversary of Victoria Dom, but also the first year in which the number of properties sold in one year exceeded 1,000.
In 2019, the company expects to sell 1,600 to 1,700 apartments. “We are specialists in affordable real estate that the average Polish or German customer can buy,” Mr. Wasiluk observes. “Our primary goal is to enable people to buy a property of their own. This means we build in an affordable way and sell good value for money.”
We are specialists in affordable real estate. Our goal is to enable people to buy properties, and we sell good value for money. Waldemar WasilukVice President
Most people buy a smaller apartment as their first home, to move to a larger one later on. Clients of Victoria Dom are investors who buy apartment buildings and first-time buyers who will actually live in the apartment they buy, including people from younger generations – the average Polish or German consumer who can afford a modest mortgage.
Victoria Dom is famous for its well-designed solutions, offering many living functions even in a small apartment. This means the apartments are made to live in for a long time, which is great since moving house is quite expensive in this day and age. At the same time, their value increases over the years.
“Real estate is becoming ever-more expensive, and most people cannot afford a large apartment,” Mr. Wasiluk adds. “So we envisioned extremely efficient floor plans.” He also observes that although large windows can be quite nice, they also allow others to look inside your home. As people value privacy, the exterior designs of the residential properties are rather traditional.
Victoria Dom current has five projects in Berlin: one in Prenzlauer Berg, which is already completely sold out, three in Weissensee and one in Lichtenberg. “As we are relatively new in the Berlin market, our projects there are smaller in size than the projects we complete in Poland,” the Vice President notes. “In Poland we rank among the top five developers, and we are the second-largest company in our sector in Warsaw.”
The company’s main focus is still on Poland. Aside from the capital, the company would like to expand into other major Polish cities as well. Even so, the projects in Berlin are quite promising, and expansion in Germany is definitely another goal for the near future. As a newcomer in the market, this requires strong determination because it can be extra difficult to secure the right locations.
As Mr. Wasiluk observes, company growth in real estate is always about developing the right projects. The company has a lean structure with just 70 people, with another few thousand people involved in the construction of its residential buildings. Victoria Dom has sales offices at the properties and uses online portals and Google as the dominating marketing platform to lead traffic to its website, which offers extensive information about its current and past projects.
The Vice President indicates that the company is closely following how the economy will perform in the coming years. Residential real estate is all about good jobs and good payment since people need security to invest a lot of money and take out a mortgage. Victoria Dom has been investing millions in buying quality land for new projects. Mr. Wasiluk concludes: “Our vision is to continue delivering good value for money. We are a family business with a long-term strategy. We aim to expand, as well as keep our friendly, transparent organization and culture.”
