Is it time to buy a home? Budapest house prices fall again

At national level, prices of apartments and houses for sale remained stable, but in Budapest the trend is downwards.

No decrease at national level

In Hungary, prices of used and new homes for sale did not fall in October compared to 2022 figures. The October figures from ingatlan.com show that there are some areas where there has been a significant change.

In terms of county towns, Győr, Veszprém and Debrecen lead the second-hand housing market. The average price per square metre is  HUF 740 thousand (EUR 1,950). Debrecen also tops the list for new properties. The eastern Hungarian city is followed by Zalaegerszeg and Székesfehérvár, where the average price per square metre is already above HUF one million (EUR 2,637).

On the other side of the list are Salgótarján and Békéscsaba. In the former, the price per square metre is HUF 269 thousand (EUR 709), while in Békéscsaba it is (EUR 1,007). Békéscsaba is also cheap in terms of new apartments, while Nyíregyháza and Kecskemét are at the bottom of the list.

Budapest shows a downward trend

Looking at the country as a whole, prices are stagnating in the Hungarian capital, but a different trend can be observed in Budapest. Prices of apartments and houses for sale in Budapest fell by 0.7% in October. The decline is mostly explained by high interest rates and declining interest.

“However, the good news is that interest in the real estate market has picked up in recent weeks, which is also due to the announcements related to the housing subsidy changes,” said László Balogh, chief economic expert at ingatlan.com.

In Budapest, the average price per square metre of second-hand homes was HUF 943 thousand (EUR 2,487) at the beginning of November, while new-build houses were priced at HUF 1.3 million (EUR 3,429). The cheapest second-hand flats are in districts XX, XXI and XXIII, while new-build houses are in districts XV, XVIII and XX.

Detailed data from the Housing Index show that one more area deviates from the stagnating trend. In the western part of Hungary, the counties of Győr-Moson-Sopron, Vas and Zala have seen a significant price increase of 1.7%, vg.hu reports.