This is how much an apartment costs on average in Budapest right now

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Photo: Alpár Kató / Daily News Hungary

According to the latest data, the number of homes sold in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, fell by 30 percent. It is the second-lowest number of new homes sold in the last seven years. Despite falling demand, prices are still rising. Here are the latest Hungarian property trends.

Falling supply

In the last quarter, a large number of new homes have entered the housing market. 840 new homes have been put on the market. The only time there were fewer than this was during the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

Low demand and few new projects have led to a stagnation in the number of vacant dwellings. There are currently 6200 new-build properties for sale in Budapest. More than half of the projects planned for delivery in the second half of 2024 or later are vacant. However, almost 70 percent of the properties completed this year already have owners.

At the same time, the supply of apartments that have been completed or at least started the occupancy permit procedure has increased compared to the previous period.

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Low demand, yet rising prices

The persistently low demand has led to a slight slowdown in the growth of prices per square metre, portfolio.hu reports. In fact, the less than 1 percent increase could even be described as stagnation.

The annual price change was 19.6 percent, 10 percentage points lower than in the previous quarter. Currently, the average price per square metre in Budapest is HUF 1.43 million (EUR 3633.23).

In all districts of the Hungarian capital, demand was down. Only one-room apartments showed some variation. Sales of two-room flats halved, three-room properties fell by 40 percent, while sales of larger flats dropped by 30 percent.

One in five new-build properties sold in the first quarter was one-bedroom, almost double the previous trend.

At the beginning of 2023, the average price of a new home in Budapest almost reached HUF 100 million (EUR 254,071.70). This is an increase of more than 150 percent in 7 years, compared to HUF 40 million ((EUR 101,628.68) at the beginning of 2016.