Budapest flat prices are low compared to EU average

As Index.hu reports, Budapest flats count as cheap among European cities, according to Otthon Centrum and Global Property Monitor’s study concerning real estate markets in capitals and significant financial centres.

Only Croatian, Romanian, Serbian, Bulgarian and Cyprian capitals are cheaper than the Hungarian. At the same time, a flat in Budapest is less affordable for those living there than for Varsovians or inhabitants of Prague. In Budapest, used flats cost 884 thousand HUF per square metre; new units cost 1.4-1.8 million HUF per square metre.

This is one-third or one-fourth of the prices observable in Europe’s financial and economic capitals.

The most expensive flats can be found in Switzerland (Zurich, Basel, Geneva), in the UK (London), in France (Paris). In these economic and financial centres, the average price is 7000-13 thousand euros per square metre (2.1-4 million HUF). London is the most expensive with 20 thousand euros (6.3 million HUF) per square metre of a flat.

Between January and November 2017, based on the sales contracts made with the intermediation of Otthon Centrum,

in the Hungarian capital, customers in the V. District had to pay the most for the flats: one square metre of used flats cost on average 884 thousand HUF (2850 euros), the new flats cost much more, 1.4-1.8 million HUF (4515-5800 euro) per square metres.

In the central Pest districts, the specific price of used flats in brick blocks of flats was around 460-580 thousand HUF (1480-1870 euros), in Buda, in Districts II, XI and XII, 540-564 thousand HUF (1740-1810 euros).  The case is different with new buildings, those were sold at a price usually 30-40% higher than old buildings, but certain luxury projects offer their flats for over one million HUF per square metre.

Prices are higher in some of the surrounding countries:

• Among Central-European capitals, Vienna is the most expensive, according to Austrian statistics, the average price per square metre is 3500-7500 euros (1.1-2.3 million HUF). According to data from Band Austria, the progressive increase of the last two years seems to have slowed down at the beginning of the year, and the Viennese flat prices are stabilised by now.
• According to data by the Polish National Bank, in the last couple of years, the average price of an apartment in Warsaw has hardly changed, in the first half of 2017, it was 580 thousand HUF per square metre. As numbeo.com’s current data shows, prices are higher in the city centre where 785 thousand HUF worth of zloty is required per square metre, while in the outer districts the average price is 520 thousand HUF.
• In Prague, as data from numbeo.com show, the average price per square metres is 1.2 million HUF in the city centre and 784 in the outer districts. In Bratislava, 1910-2650 euros (590-820 thousand HUF) has to be paid per square metre for a flat, depending on location. In the region of Bratislava, the increase in the price of flats was 4.5 percent in a year, as stated by the Slovakian Statistic Office.

As statistics show, Hungarian real estate prices are joining up with capitals of the Visegrád Group; while the premium segment is nearing the rates in Vienna, the prices of average flats are still under the Viennese average.

Unlike to the flat prices, Hungary is at the end of the line regarding net income, as jobseurope.net’s survey reveals. At the moment, in Warsaw, Prague, and Bratislava, the disbursable average net income is higher than in Hungary, not to mention Vienna, where the average wage is multiple times that in Budapest.

This means that Budapest flat prices are less affordable for those living there than that of Prague or Warsaw.

The least affordable flats regarding specific flat price compared to monthly salaries can be found in London, Vienna, Rome, and Paris, Budapest is in the midfield along with Lisbon, outrunning Prague, Warsaw, and Bratislava. Berlin. Copenhagen, Brussels, and Zagreb show the most favourable values as the average monthly net income is one and a half or two times more than the ordinary flat’s square metre price.

Source: index.hu