Cycle turn in Hungary’s property market

According to the experts of the OTP Ingatlanpont, there will be no real estate apocalypse in Hungary. But the steep price increase that started nine years ago ended. Experts believe there is room for negotiations now on the Hungarian property market even though that opportunity does not concern all segments. According to the OTP Ingatlanpont, buyers will encounter new options in the Hungarian real estate market.

According to index.hu, the Hungarian property market halted last year after prosperity lasting for almost a decade. Price correction hit the market in 2022, Dávid Valkó, a leading analyst of OTP Ingatlanpont and OTP Pénzügyi Pont, told index.hu. He added that the price fall is much lower than the rise before. Furthermore, they will last for a shorter time.

He added that, in 2022, the market’s turnover decline was 10-15 percent. A decrease can follow that in 2023 and this year can be the nadir in that regard. But nobody can predict whether the property market will stagnate or increase again after that period.

He said that during the COVID pandemic, people tried to get out of the crowded cities to the suburbs. As a result, villages and towns around Budapest and other Hungarian municipalities faced the greatest price increase rate in Hungary between 2020 and 2021. 2022 marked cost increases, too. But the trend changed. People started to search for small apartments in Budapest and the big cities to avoid the negative consequences of soaring energy prices.

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“There is a correction regarding the prices in the property market”, Mr Valkó highlighted. He added that there was no sign of a depression similar to the one between 2008 and 2013.

Hungary’s most expensive region remained Budapest’s 5th district in the downtown. There, 1 square metre costs HUF 1.130 million (EUR 2,919). Meanwhile, the average square metre price is only HUF 578,000 (EUR 1,493) in Somogy county, while in Pest, Hajdú-Bihar, Pest and Győr-Moson-Sopron, it is HUF 530,000 (EUR 1,369). The highest square metre price among the municipalities was in Veszprém (HUF 628,000, EUR 1,622).

In 2022, almost 6,000 new apartments were sold in Budapest. That is a 30 percent fallback compared to 2021. Even so, those aiming to buy a new property in Budapest need to pay at least HUF 1.5 million per square metre (EUR 3,875), a historic high and a 25 percent rise in just one year.

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Balázs Hartlieb, the CEO of OTP Ingatlanpont, said that in 2021, the average selling time was 118 days. That decreased to 104 days in 2022. He added that the current market decrease would not last long or be drastic as it was after 2008.

Panel buildings keep their prices in Hungary, they agreed. That is because their layout is beneficial, and their location is perfect with public transport connections. Thanks to the district heating system, the government’s utility price protection scheme applies to them. As a result, you may even have to pay HUF 1 million (EUR 2,583) per square metre for them.

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Source: index.hu