Decreasing amount of home building permits issued in 2018

The number of home building permits issued in the first half of 2018 fell by 8.9 percent from the same period a year earlier, to 18,066, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Monday.

The number of home building permits issued in Budapest dropped by 27 percent to 6,119. The number issued in county seats and cities with over 50,000 residents went down by 3.5 percent to 4,111. The number in other cities was up by 17.1 percent at 5,130 while it was down by 3.5 percent in smaller settlements at 2,706.

The number of completed homes increased by an annual 30.2 percent to 6,517 in January-June.

The number of these homes in Budapest rose by 51.2 percent to 1,483. The number in county seats and cities with over 50,000 residents increased by 11.9 percent to 1,686 and the number in other cities was up by 23.4 percent at 1,942. Smaller settlement saw a rise of 49.3 percent to 1,406.

Out of newly constructed completed homes 54 percent were detached family houses, 36 percent were in buildings with multiple homes and 6.2 percent in gated communities.

The average size of completed homes was up 5 sqm at 101 sqm by the end of June.

Private individuals built around half of the homes completed during the period.

Commenting on the data, finance ministry deputy state secretary László Balogh said the family home-creation scheme CSOK and the preferential 5 percent VAT rate on newly-built homes have had a significant impact on the growth in home construction. So far, some 81,000 Hungarian families have availed of more than 232 billion forints (EUR 718m) in CSOK funding, he said.

Balogh said the six-year wage agreement and rising real wages had also boosted demand on the housing market. The rise in demand is also reflected in the increase in home loans, he added. Hungarian lenders’ outlays of new home loans exceeded 300 billion forints in the first five months of the year, a 36 percent rise compared with the same period last year, he said.

Source: MTI