Home price rise accelerates in Hungary after government program kicks off

Home prices in Hungary rose 14.7pc year-on-year in August, listings site Ingatlan.com said on Monday.

In the capital, home prices climbed 21.3pc. In a month-on-month comparison, home prices edged up 1.1pc nationwide and increased 1.4pc in Budapest.

Ingatlan.com analyst László Balogh said the listings sample for the price gauge had grown by 20pc from a year earlier and pointed to an increase in demand with the launch of the Home Start subsidised credit scheme for first-time home buyers.

Average prices up

The average price for a resale home listed in Budapest stood at HUF 1.36m/sqm (EUR 3,489) in September. In county seats and cities with populations over 50,000, the average price reached HUF 771,000/sqm (EUR 1978).

• It now takes longer to buy a home in Budapest than in London

They pointed out that the number of apartments available through the Otthon Start program in Budapest dropped from 13,100 in early July to 11,100 by early September. Similarly, in county seats, the supply fell from 19,000 to 17,300. Meanwhile, the total inventory of used homes and apartments for sale also declined but at a slower pace: in Budapest, from 28,200 to 27,200, and in county seats from 21,500 to 20,000. László Balogh noted in the announcement that the demand generated by the Otthon Start program is currently outpacing supply, which keeps shrinking.