Positive changes at Lake Balaton: Far more holiday homes for sale than in 2023

The Lake Balaton area is a huge favourite of expats when it comes to buying a holiday home in a calm environment, close to nature. A positive trend seems to be emerging, as the selection of holiday homes for sale in the area is getting larger.

There has been a significant increase in the supply of properties for sale on Lake Balaton, with 10-20% more properties for sale on both the north and south shores than this time a year ago. Prices have fallen in real terms over the past year, and even nominally on the south shore, Világgazdaság reports based on ingatlan.com data.

“There has been a significant increase in supply at Lake Balaton, while property prices are stagnating, the first signs of which were already visible in the summer of 2022, and the trend has been growing ever stronger since then”, summarised László Balogh, chief economic expert at ingatlan.com, the largest property advertising platform in the country.

Real estate development at Lake Balaton

Source: Bahart

The Balaton region is buoyed by the fact that in the last two or three years, a lot of real estate development has started. It also increases liquidity in the region that “when the economic or financing situation turns bad, most people put their second home on the market instead of their primary one, typically realising the value added on investment properties,” said László Balogh.

Supply has increased by between 10-20% on both the north and south coasts, and prices have also fallen in real terms over the past year. On the south coast, prices have also fallen in nominal terms, the expert pointed out. According to data on ingatlan.com, demand picked up in January-February compared to last year; however, it is not yet at the same level as in the first two months of 2022.

Only the areas not near the lake saw a decrease

Balatonalmádi. Photo: FB/Balatonalmádi Város

Last year, there was a sharp drop in demand of almost 40% in the first two months of the year. This year, the number of enquiries has increased by 13%, but is still nowhere near the level of two years ago. Comparing last year’s data with the first two months of this year, it can be seen that interest has increased both on and around the south coast, the north coast and even around the Kis-Balaton region: 13-23% more people registered. Only the settlements around the north coast, i.e. not near the lake, showed a decrease.

The Balaton market has slowed down, but prices in some regions are still more expensive than in Budapest. The first signs of a slowdown were already visible in the summer of 2022, making the resulting increase in supply less of a surprise, according to the expert.

Why are so many holiday homes on sale at Lake Balaton?

Source: mavcsoport.hu

Real estate on Lake Balaton can be part of a family’s property portfolio. For many, it was an excellent investment between 2015 and 2022, Világgazdaság writes. The increase in supply is explained by the fact that sellers now want to realise the return on their investment and thus obtain cheap funds. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs who have invested the profits of their companies in property on Lake Balaton do not want to take out bank loans in the changed market environment and find cheaper financing here, according to ingatlan.com.

Balogh thinks it is unlikely that the price of property on Lake Balaton will be invested in foreign real estate, saying that the number of properties for sale in the region has increased not because of more attractive foreign markets, but for the previously mentioned reasons.

Read also:

• The Economist: Budapest tops list for most unaffordable rental prices!
• Long stretch of Balaton coast is being nationalised: less beach for tourists

Featured image: depositphotos.com