Foreigners buying the most flats in Budapest?

OTP Ingatlanpont says that in the downtown districts of Budapest, more than a quarter of real estates are bought by foreigners, mostly Chinese, and the trend is that many of them are no longer buying flats in the Hungarian capital for only business purposes.

Based on the data of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, the share of foreigners in the Hungarian real estate market is 2.3 pc, which is not much at first glance. However, in the case of Budapest, this rate increases to 12 pc while in some downtown districts of the Hungarian capital, this number reaches 25-30 pc, Napi reported.

Regarding which nationalities are active on the market, the Chinese have a leading role while the second place belongs to German citizens. However, while only 13 pc of Germans buy flats in Budapest,

this rate is 91 pc in the case of the Chinese.

The main target of the Chinese who buy flats to live there is the 2nd district of Budapest, even though there, the average cost of a square metre is 656 thousand HUF (EUR 2,000), so they mostly buy real estate – mostly family houses – for 100 million HUF (EUR 305,000). The second most popular district among them is the 13th district.

The other main target of the Chinese in Budapest is around the Chinese market of the 10th district, where they mostly buy flats in blocks for 390 thousand HUF (EUR 1,200) per square metre. Interestingly, Budapest is

the most popular target in the Vietnamese community as well.

95 pc of them would like to become the owner of a flat in Budapest, and their main target is the 11th district, regional leader of OTP Ingatlanpont, Csaba Laczi, said to Napi. 

Budapest is also popular among real estate investors. The scope ranges from small investors with one or two flats to big ones leasing office buildings even. Among the Israeli, French, Russian, and German investors, there are Chinese as well, who are searching for mostly exclusive hotels and office buildings. Krisztina Heinrich, exclusive regional development manager of the OTP Ingatlanpont, added that they are most interested in such buildings downtown, near the Andrássy Avenue and the Heroes’ Square. 

Csaba Laczi said that there are huge differences between Chinese and European investors. For example, the Chinese arrive to search for and buy real estate in waves, and they try to bargain, but that is almost impossible in the current housing market boom. 

According to professionals, in 2020, Budapest is going to remain an attractive place for both small and huge investors because it is one of the cheapest European capitals, and the pay-off is still very good there.

Source: napi.hu