- The safest way is to synchronise the sale and the purchase so that you move only once.
- A sale agreement with a later handover date to the buyer helps.
- If you sell within 5 years, the housing relief covers expenses incurred from the date of the sale.
The family is growing, you need a home office or a garden. Moving to a bigger home usually means selling and buying at the same time. The biggest question is: which comes first?
Three scenarios
- Sell first. You know your exact budget and negotiate the purchase as a cash buyer or with a mortgage decision in hand. The risk: you need somewhere to live if you do not find a new home in time.
- Buy first. You choose calmly, but you need financing for two homes at once (a bridging loan or savings) and you sell under pressure.
- At the same time. A sale with a later handover to the buyer and a purchase in the same window. This is usually the best option, but it needs coordination.
How to synchronise selling and buying
- Valuation and budget decision. The realistic price of your apartment and a talk with the bank about your creditworthiness show what you can afford.
- Preparing the apartment and launching the sale. Meanwhile, you view homes to buy.
- A preliminary agreement with a longer timeline. We agree with the buyer on, for example, 2–3 months to the deed or a handover a few weeks after the deed. Many buyers agree, especially when they are waiting for their own mortgage.
- Buying the new home with a deposit, once the sale is secured by an agreement.
- One move. Notarial deeds at around the same time and a move straight into the new home.
Tax and the housing relief
If you sell within 5 years of the end of the year of purchase, you pay 19% on the gain, unless you spend the proceeds on your own housing needs within 3 years of the end of the year of sale. Buying a bigger home qualifies, but only expenses incurred from the date of the sale count, so the order of steps matters. In September 2026 the government adopted a draft under which the relief could be used no more than once every 3 years, for properties bought after 31 December 2026. As of October 2026 the rules have not been passed. You can check the result in the tax calculator, and the costs of the new purchase in the buying costs calculator.
How I help
I run the sale of your apartment and at the same time look for the new one, including off-market listings that never reach the portals. This keeps the dates of both transactions under one control.
Legal status: October 2026. This is a practical guide, not tax or mortgage advice.
Premium real estate agent in Wrocław. She sells apartments and houses, handles off-market transactions and works with clients from abroad. More about me
