Investors, take note! Property searches in Hungary soar – is the market on the brink of a boom?

There is a large increase in property searches nationwide, with interest in rural properties approaching, and in many cases exceeding, that in Budapest and its agglomeration area, state secretary Miklos Panyi said in an interview with public radio broadcast on Sunday.

Talking about the government’s Home Start Programme, Panyi said that the new housing market is also expected to pick up. The construction of tens of thousands of homes has not started in recent years because there were not enough buyers, now, however, these developments will be started.

Panyi said tens of thousands of new homes will be built, so the supply market will grow, and there will be more to choose from in addition to the 100,000 resale homes currently on the market.

The state secretary said the Hungarian construction sector has the capacity to immediately double its output from the current, very low, 15,000 homes per year. He said he also expects a very significant increase in the construction of detached houses, which will be a great opportunity for SMEs by providing many thousands of new orders.

The home purchase programme will launch on September 1, offering a 3pc fixed rate Home Start credit for first-time home buyers for the full 25-year term without exchange rate risk.

Panyi said that investment buyers who tend to inflate real estate prices cannot participate in this program given the price limits imposed in the scheme. Eligible properties through the scheme have a price limit of HUF 1.5m per sqm with an absolute price limit of HUF 100m for apartments and HUF 150m for houses.

He said the programme does not support the purchase of luxury real estates, therefore the prices of properties cannot rise and “that is why it is foolish to say that there is a 20pc price increase here”.

Panyi noted that the government has chosen not to build rental apartments because they believe that the greatest help for a young person in starting out on their own is to provide them with the opportunity to acquire their own property, which is a big step for them to become part of the middle class as property-owning citizens.

Click for more property-related news.

Read also:

• Hungary’s rural housing boom: Why young buyers are flocking outside Budapest
• Good news for tenants: New home loan could slash Budapest rents by 17%

Featured image: depositphotos.com