It is cheaper to live in a downtown hotel than to rent an apartment in Budapest

There are a lot of hotels in Budapest that offer a room for 80-90 thousand HUF (EUR 250-270) per month because there are no foreign tourists in Budapest. With that price and the service they provide, they are cheaper than many of the rents available in the Hungarian capital.

According to metropol.hu, the coronavirus epidemic turned the Hungarian real estate market upside down. First, when the flow of the foreign tourists stopped, Airbnb flat owners started to offer their real estates for longer intervals. Today, downtown hotels offer at least 30-day-long room rental. In the (former) party district of Budapest, for example, you can live in a hotel for 300 EUR per month, and the price includes the overhead costs too.

• Budapest real estate: most people move to these districts
• Investment opportunity? The government sells its real estates at Lake Balaton
• Chinese investors to disappear from Budapest’s real estate market?!

In the Corvin Hotel, you can rent a room for only 89,900 HUF (EUR 270) per month, and even if you move in together with your friend you have to pay only 10,000 HUF (EUR 30) more. The price includes tidying, 24/7 portering service, and the overhead cost. For some more, you can buy breakfast, a parking lot, and request washing as well,

so one can live there like a celebrity.

The director of the hotel, Éva Borsos, said that they offer 20 out of their 90 rooms for long-term rental, until December 27 because that is the deadline of the tourism tax moratorium. Interestingly, they expect that university students and business people will resort to their new offer.

The hotel closed for a short time in spring. They tried to jump into the food delivery market, but it was not profitable for them. Becoming tax-free and the three-months long salary allowance the government gave helped – they say. The new service they offer is also a straw

with which they can avoid firing the hotel’s employees.

Many hotels already closed and their workers are now unemployed, but that is not an option for us – Mrs Borsos added.

Currently, they give 20 people job, and there is a demand for their new service. More than 60 thousand people saw their relevant advertisement, and more than 100 already submitted their applications.

Because of the coronavirus epidemic, real estate prices have been decreasing for months. Currently, we can rent a flat for an average price of 140 thousand HUF per month (EUR 400) which was unimaginable in, for example, 2017, 2018 or 2019 when such prices peaked year after year. Moreover,

prices will probably go further down because of the hotels that entered the long-term rental market –

László Balogh, leading expert of ingatlan.com told Ripost.

Source: metropol.hu