Foreigners are more and more interested in Hungarian real estate

Considering the number of the real estate buyers from outside the European Union, origo.hu reports that the Chinese have taken over the Russians, when it comes to Hungary. Every fifth real estate purchase in Budapest is made by a foreigner.

Over the course of 2016, over 1200 Chinese citizens have bought apartments, holiday homes or other kinds of buildings in Hungary, whereas the number of Russian buyers is 446 and Ukrainians 231. 3163 foreigners have purchased 2929 real estates in Hungary, which means that the previous three countries have participated in 60 percent of the transactions.

In 2012, the Russians had a 38 percent share in the sales and the Chinese only 13 percent, however, their ratios have swapped: in 2016 the Russians had 14 percent, the Chinese had 38 percent. The Ukrainians, on the other hand, had their shares between seven and fifteen percent.

The number of foreign customers is growing constantly

These numbers refer only to those buyers whose origin country is not an EU member, since they cannot make any purchases without a permission. The number of all foreign buyers is much higher: in 2015 it was 8330, two thousand more than in 2012. As of yet, there is no real estimate regarding 2016. From the data given, it is obvious that non-EU buyers are in majority: from 15-17 percent in 2010, their rate has grown to 33 percent.

According to László Balog, lead economic expert at Ingatlan.com, foreigners own more and more immovable properties. There are more transactions, but the number of these is exponential with the growth of the Hungarian real estate market. In Hungary, six to seven percent of the purchases are made by foreigners, a number which is around 15-20 percent in Budapest, though there are substantial differences between the districts.

Budapest is the favourite spot

Most of the buyers are of German, Slovakian and Romanian citizenry. The latter two make their purchases usually around the border, because they can buy properties cheaper in Hungary than in their home countries. It is not just the Hungarians across the border who make these investments.

Budapest is by far the most popular among the foreigners, who are generally interested in the apartments in the downtown area and the family houses in the inner districts of Buda. The capital is followed by the Balaton region and West-Hungary.