Digital turnaround in the Hungarian real estate sector

Both buyers and sellers can now feel a digital turnaround in the real estate sector. Thanks to digitisation, more and more Budapest panel floor plans are available online. In addition, sales data for the first nine months of 2022 have already been published. The data show that the number of transactions in 2022 and 2021 differs significantly from each other.

All Budapest panel apartment floor plans will be soon only one click away on the real estate website ingatlan.com, reports napi.hu. This will greatly assist both property advertisers and those looking for a home. According to László Balogh, a chief economic expert at ingatlan.com, the day is just around the corner when the floor plans of all Budapest panel apartments will be available to everyone thanks to their digitisation.

Here are the last year’s figures

The Hungarian Central Statistical Office (Központi Statisztikai Hivatal, KSH), recently published the figures for sales in the first nine months of the year. According to the report, 4.6 percent fewer homes were sold in Hungary in the first nine months of last year than in the same period of 2021. While property prices increased in the first quarter, a gradual decline in price increases could be observed in the subsequent quarters.

Sales of both new and second-hand homes fell by between 3 and 7 percent in each quarter. Although the number of sales fell for both types of housing, the rate of new housing sales did not even reach 5 percent last year. This is well below the peak of 10 percent in the first quarter of 2021.

Read also: This is the most expensive panel apartment in Budapest for sale

The number of loans for second-hand homes also decreased. In the first half of last year, the number of such loans fell by 26 percent.

High property prices in certain regions

Budapest was the only city in the country where the number of sales did not fall. Compared to the same period in 2021, 15 percent more homes were sold in Budapest. The average price of a second-hand apartment in Budapest was HUF 46.2 million. This meant an increase of HUF 8.1 million compared to 2021. The average price per square metre was HUF 899,000 (EUR 2,305), which is 180,000 (EUR 461.57) more than in 2021. However, the limited number of apartments available in districts V and XII could exceed HUF 2 million (EUR 5,128.5) per square metre.

Besides Budapest, other cities also saw higher-than-average price increases. Among others, prices per square metre were higher in cities such as Debrecen, Siófok and Győr. The most expensive county seat was Veszprém, with a price per square metre exceeding HUF 600,000 (EUR 1,538.56).

However, it is worth noting that after a rapid price increase at the beginning of the year, there has been a decline in smaller towns. In the third quarter, prices continued to rise only in Budapest and the county seats, as described above.