Buy a houses in Hungary? Here are the prices!

FHB House Price Index rose to 175.44 in the first quarter of 2015, compared with the average of 2014, the houses increased by 8.2% in nominal terms and by more than 9% in real terms. The nominal increase was 3.7% compared with the last quarter of 2014. The latest indexed value of the house prices is nominally nearly the same as the beginning of 2005, and the prices were similar to the current one at the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, napi.hu said.

Due to the price increase of the recent quarters compared to the pre-crisis maximum, one can buy a home only 10% less, as opposed to the 21%-price difference, which was the low point. In real terms, the price level is the same as the end of the 2000s and the end of 2011-beginning of 2012 – FHB House Price Index reveals.

The domestic house prices are rising for over a year, moreover, at the beginning of the year the price rise increased after the slightly lower growth rate at the end of 2014. In the first quarter of 2015, the growth was 4% after the 2.5-3%- increase between July and September and October and November 2014, but it was slightly lower than the upswing observed in the second quarter of 2014.

According to napi.hu, despite last year’s temporary slowdown, the market is still having a momentum as the tprice rise of this year’s first quarter approached the highest figure so far. Since the one year, which lasted since onset of the upswing (from April 2014 to March 2015), the house prices increased by 14% in nominal terms and by 15% in real terms.

Constructions start slowly

The number of building permits, despite the significant increase, is only a fraction of pre-crisis level. Fewer houses were handed over than a year, but the number of handed-over houses exceeded the 2013 figures. Based on the nationally rising number of building permits, the developments should start soon. However, Budapest lost from its leading role in the second quarter.

The market of home loans remained strong, the total value of housing loans between April and June exceeded HUF 80 billion this year’s second quarter. The significant increase compared with the previous quarter was primarily due to the results in June, when the amount of new loans exceeded HUF 32.5 billion, but it also stably exceeded HUF 20 billion in the other two months as well, napi.hu said.

Loan placements increased by 40% on year/year basis in July, and compared to June, it significantly expanded by nearly 10%. The average fee of loans for houses continues to decline, the annual rate weighted with the contracted amount was 5.3% in July 2015, while the average fee of loans for houses was 5.7% at disbursement. The average amount of FHB residential loans paid over the past three months is more than HUF 8.4 million. There is an undiminished interest towards CSOK (Family Homemaking Discount) which positively effects the turnover and the lending as well.