This is why Hungary attracts German pensioners
More and more German pensioners are moving to Hungary, on the one hand due to the cost of living, and on the other hand due to political reasons.
Index asked the leading economic expert of ingatlan.com to find out whether Hungary is really that attractive among Germans.
Hungary is a popular choice among pensioners
More and more Germans decide to spend their retirement years abroad. Among the most popular emigration destinations are countries with a significantly lower cost of living. Several pensioners can thus live a luxurious life abroad, writes the German Merkur. Compared to Germany, life in Hungary is very cheap regarding real estate prices, food and other costs. In 2021, a total of 5,398 pensions were transferred to Hungary.
The paper highlights that Lake Balaton is one of the most attractive destinations among aging Germans. For example, the 71-year-old Wilhelm and his wife, Aline, moved to a Hungarian village near Lake Balaton three years ago. “In Germany, my husband’s pension would not have been enough. The cost of living was all-consuming,” he said. They then exchanged their 60-square-meter Palatinate home for a Hungarian property twice as large.
Germans come in the largest number
“Most foreign inquiries to ingtalan.com come from Germany. This is also supported by KSH data, according to which the majority of foreign buyers are Germans”, said László Balogh from ingatlan.com. 80-90 percent of the Chinese and Vietnamese buy real estate in Budapest, and about half of the Russians buy in the capital and the countryside. Regarding the Germans, however, he pointed out: 30 percent of them buy in Budapest, the vast majority of them are looking for a new home in Transdanubia and around Lake Balaton.
In 2021, Germans were the most active foreign home buyers in Hungary: they purchased 1,259 apartments. Based on KSH data, this is 104 percent more than the number of transactions with German customers in 2019, the year of peace before the last period of Covid and war. It is also telling that the proportion of customers over 65 is 24 percent, which is exceptionally high compared to other nations.
What attracts the German pensioners in Hungary?
Firstly, living in Hungary is much cheaper than in Germany. According to data from the German Statistical Office, in Hungary, the price line is 40.2 percent lower than in Germany. However, according to the German newspaper, it is not the low prices that make Hungary attractive to German pensioners, but also the politics.
German real estate agent Ottmar Heide, who sells Balaton properties, said that 90 percent of his prospective buyers want to go to Hungary for political reasons. The Neue Züricher Zeitung recently called Lake Balaton “the paradise of right-wing pensioners”. Many people who emigrated no longer feel comfortable in Germany. One of them said, “he wanted to escape from this filthy country.” Many criticised the high taxes, the lack of freedom and the “migration flood”.
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Source: Index.hu, Merkur.de
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