According to Magyar Nemzeti Bank, the value of housing in Hungary has fallen sharply, and the number of concluded transactions has also decreased - in many cities by more than 50%. The latest statistics on the real estate market in Hungary have been published, and these data may interest potential buyers.

Подзаголовок: Demand declines — prices fall

Starting from 2022, the demand for real estate in Hungary started to decline. The main reasons for this were: rising inflation, rising energy prices, falling real incomes, tighter monetary conditions, and higher interest rates on loans.

The number of transactions on the market in the first quarter of 2023 decreased by 43% compared to last year. Reduced demand, of course, has affected housing prices. At the same time, according to experts' forecasts, the cost per square meter of housing in Hungary will continue to decline in 2023.

It is interesting that the situation was not always like this: for eight years, starting in 2014, the prices of apartments and houses in the country only increased. However, everything changed in the middle of 2022, when the value of real estate decreased first by 1.6%, by the end of the year this figure was already 3.6%. Of course, these are averages for the whole of Hungary - the situation differs in the capital and the regions. For example, in the fourth quarter of 2022, house prices in the capital, smaller towns, and villages fell by 1.1%, 2.9%, and 6.6%, respectively.

housing cost chart Bulgaria

Chart of real estate values in Bulgaria

The number of construction decreases

According to official figures, 20,500 new housing units were built in 2022, just 3% more than the previous year. In 2023, the number of housing commissioned decreased much more drastically - 20.2% less housing was built in the first quarter of 2023.

Experts consider the main reasons for this slowdown in construction to be a double-digit annual increase in material and labor costs, a shortage of labor, and, of course, insufficient demand for residential houses and apartments in Hungary.

Expectedly, the number of issued building permits has also decreased - in the first quarter of 2023, 37.6% fewer such permits were issued in the country as a whole. However, there is still a reserve for the revival of demand - the number of new buildings in Budapest has increased, and it is possible to buy housing at the excavation stage.

Everything About Buying Property in Hungary: from Statistics to Transaction Execution