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Good news for those wanting to buy property: December brought a drop in Budapest prices!
According to demand data, expectations for the housing market have been confirmed, as property price growth in Hungary slowed further in December 2025.
On a national level, prices increased by just 0.4% in the last month of the year. In Budapest, December saw an even stronger monthly price decline of 0.7% compared with November, according to the latest housing price index from Ingatlan.com, which tracks changes for both December and the entire past year.
“In Budapest, buyers’ purchasing power has reached its limit, putting a cap on price growth. Since October, demand has not been able to maintain the previous pace of increase. This has quickly reflected in the capital’s property prices,” said László Balogh, chief economic expert at Ingatlan.com.
He added: “Pest County also saw a significant slowdown. The 1.7% monthly increase in November fell well below 1% in December, meaning that the rate of price growth in the Budapest agglomeration slowed noticeably within just one month. Across the rest of the country, there were no major changes. However, in Central and Southern Transdanubia, prices rose faster than the average of recent months. This can primarily be seen as a mid-year correction, as in the second half of the year, prices in Eastern Hungary increased more rapidly than in Western Hungary.”
Double-digit annual growth
While December’s monthly figures were favourable for buyers, prices still rose significantly over the year. Nationwide, they increased by 18%, while in Budapest the annual rise was 20%. Balogh noted that price growth had been even faster in the first half of 2025, but the annual figures were moderated by the base effect. By the end of 2024, prices had already begun to rise noticeably due to investors exiting government bonds and returning to the property market.
Interestingly, after Budapest, the highest annual growth did not occur in the Transdanubian regions or in Pest County, but in the Northern Great Plain (Észak-Alföld), where prices increased by 19.1% in 2025.
Housing prices continue to move closely in line with changes in demand. Since October, a slowdown in demand has transformed previous price growth into stagnation. This is partly because many buyers have reached the upper limit of their purchasing power, and partly because Budapest’s Otthon Start Programme, with its HUF 1.5 million per square metre price cap, has clearly restrained price growth.
Current prices for apartments and houses
In several Budapest districts, used apartment prices showed little change in the last months of the year. In District XXIII, the average price per square metre fell from HUF 831,000 in September to HUF 817,000 by the end of December. In the XIII District, one of the most popular areas with the largest supply, the average at the end of last year was nearly HUF 1.6 million, essentially the same as in early September.
From early September, only slight increases of 1–2%—almost stagnation—were seen in Districts I, III, V, and VI. “Price corrections are most noticeable in the more expensive areas, which is also because even before the Otthon Start Programme, prices in these districts were already close to HUF 1.5 million per square metre,” explained Balogh.
By the end of the year, the average square metre price of used apartments and houses in Debrecen reached HUF 1 million, while the cheapest county seat, Salgótarján, had an average of HUF 289,000. The rising value of housing in major cities is evident, with four county seats now having average prices exceeding HUF 900,000 per square metre: Szeged (HUF 955,000), Székesfehérvár (HUF 923,000), Győr (HUF 922,000), and Veszprém (HUF 913,000).
2026 likely to see active market, but no big price surges
According to Ingatlan.com experts, the housing market may remain active in 2026. However, further price surges for used apartments are unlikely due to buyers’ limited purchasing power and the fact that sellers have already factored in all known market influences.
Price growth for used apartments may also be tempered by developers introducing thousands of new apartments that meet the requirements for 3% mortgage loans. In certain Budapest districts and neighbourhoods, this could bring used and new apartments to nearly the same price level, potentially creating interesting developments in the market in 2026.
It is worth noting that the national housing price index, including December’s data, shows that by the end of 2025, the average apartment in Hungary costs nearly four times as much as in 2015.