Here are the leading regions in Hungary: would you move here?

House price growth stopped in 2023 in Hungary. After typical double-digit price increases in previous years, the housing market saw annual price rises of less than 2% in the fourth quarter of last year. Within the country, there are still very significant differences. Some areas have seen an annual increase of around 5%, while others have seen prices fall. There are also places that can be considered “star regions”, according to the analysis of an expert at ingatlan.com.

“Nationally, house prices were only 1.8% higher in the last quarter of 2023 compared to the same period a year earlier. This is a minimal difference, but also a very drastic slowdown compared to previous years,” said László Balogh, chief economist at real estate agency website ingatlan.com.

“The halt in price increases was to be expected, as many people postponed their housing purchases due to the high interest rates last year and the new public housing programme starting in January,” he added. In December, however, national house prices rose by 0.8%, partly due to a 15% pick-up in demand in the final month of 2023. The expert pointed out that the buoyant start to 2024 should not be seen as such a surprise given the December recovery, Pénzcentrum writes.

New “star regions” on the rise in Hungary

While the house price index shows an average increase of 1.8% in 2023, there are significant and contrasting changes across the country. For example, house prices in the Western Transdanubian region, which is one of the most economically developed parts of the country, rose by almost 5% in the last quarter of last year compared to a year earlier.

“The Northern Great Plain region closed the last month of the year with an even higher price increase of more than 5%. This was thanks to the developments there, including the factory investments in the Debrecen area,” Mr Balogh added.

Some places even saw price decreases

Looking at the housing market as a whole, the most buoyant housing markets in the capital and Pest county saw essentially no increase in prices, with price rises of only 0.4 and 0.8% respectively. The result in Budapest played a major role in keeping the annual rate of price increases below 2% nationally. “It is also worth highlighting the South Transdanubian region, where prices fell by 0.5% over a year,” the expert said.

According to the expert, a turnaround in housing market turnover is expected this year. After last year’s decline, the number of sales could increase. However, the pace of price growth this year may lag behind the pick-up in sales, with house price growth at a national level expected to be between 3-8% in 2024.

Read also:

• Rental prices to increase significantly this year in Hungary
• Record rental and real estate prices in Hungary in 2023