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Real estate prices have increased on the back of CSOK

napi.hu, 5 October – A study shows that the family home allowance (CSOK) has not improved the birth rate, but its amount has been incorporated into the price of homes. Three quarters of the subsidy was bunt up by the price rise, and the number of people having three children has not increased even in the light of the millions of Forints granted by the state. Many people used the subsidy to buy property as an investment. The introduction of the new allowance has pushed up property prices significantly, making it even more difficult for young couples to buy a home. Only 23% of those who received state support agreed in advance to bear a child, well below the national average (33%). 77% of claimants only apply for support after a child that has already been born. More than half of them only committed to one baby, 45 percent committed to two children and only 2 percent dared to commit to having three children after receiving the subsidy. The income level of those who anticipated having a child was typically lower than that of those who already had children; for them, the subsidy was a great help in buying their own property.

How high can Hungarian house prices rise? There is still room for price rises

napi.hu, 27.09 – The Hungarian real estate market has grown exponentially over the past 10 years, and not even the economic impact of the Coronavirus pandemic has reduced house prices. Hungary is still in the middle of the pack in the European price race, but experts see further room for price increases. Let’s take a look at what the market is like in Europe’s capitals.

The house price index for the European Union shows that house prices rose by 6.1 percent in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year. The annual growth rate has never been so high since the third quarter of 2007. Compared with the end of last year, despite the impact of the epidemic, a further 1.7 percent increase in prices is forecast for the European housing market. The highest price increases were recorded in Luxembourg (+17%) compared to 12 months earlier, but were also above 10% in Denmark, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. Among the Visegrád Four, not only the Czechs (11.9 percent) but also the Poles are ahead of Hungary in terms of market development: while Poland recorded a +7.2 percent increase compared to Q1 2020, Hungary had a mere +4.6 percent and Slovakia an even more moderate 2 percent.

Property prices to decrease in 2021

Napi.hu, 04.12. – For the next twelve months experts expect to see a residential property price decrease of 3-4% on average in Budapest. With the exception of the green belt of Buda and of detached houses market expectations have changed for the worse, i.e. market players expect that oversupply will increase in the future. In the country, however, the outlook has improved a little. In the Eastern part of the country two of three experts queried expect to see stagnation; the overall forecast promises a 3% price decrease. In the Western part of the country, on the other hand, 72% and 22% of property experts expect stagnating and decreasing prices, respectively. According to the overall prognosis the price decrease will be a mere 2%. As far as property rental fees are concerned 57% of experts say there will be a decrease, 36% expect stagnation and a mere 7% believes rental fees will increase in 2021. The expected decrease (5%) is smaller than  before.

Coronavirus: a new age dawning on the property market

Napi.hu — The Coronavirus pandemic and the declaration of state of emergency have brought about an almost instantly perceivable change on the property market, too. There are no signs of a wide-spread and significant price decrease as yet, but there may be more and more “good buys” appearing on the market in the near future.

Personal visits will be replace by informative and relevant online advertisements and the role of real estate agents will gain importance, too.

Demand has decreased over the past few weeks but supply has increased. Also, buyers have a wider bargaining span because those who really want to sell their properties can count on 10-15 per cent less potential buyers than before the crisis.

Another reason of the decrease in demand is that some buyers postpone their purchase and “rubbernecks”, who have less serious purchase intentions, may also vanish from the market. Those who are still in the market as buyers have serious intentions and strive for a quick and effective transaction.

Warning signs on the apartment market

napi.hu, 23 July 2018 – Demand is still soaring on the market of new apartments but price hikes stole some of the impetus. According to the CEO of a major property agency there are still approximately 7-10 thousand apartments sold in Budapest annually but the average time needed to sell a property has increased as a result of the higher prices.

According to market experience HUF 30 million is a dividing line: more expensive properties take longer to sell.

The low VAT resulted in neither overdevelopment nor oversupply and apartments in the process of building sell within a year maximum.

Some analysts expect a small supply increase after 2020 and also a stronger demand for pre-owned apartments.

Huge price increases around Lake Balaton

napi.hu 29. June 2018 – At present, holiday properties in County Veszprém are the most expensive, while County Zala shows the steepest price hikes and County Somogy boasts the most construction projects on the shores of Lake Balaton. Prices increases are exceptionally high in all three counties because new developments have been rearranging the market. Residential property prices around the lake have also been increasing continually. Back in spring 2015 average prices were approximately HUF 223,000 while in the second quarter of 2018 they were around HUF 335,000.

Property developers have been turning their attention to the region in the past few months. This is one of the reasons why County Veszprém and Somogy left County Zala behind: the latter has only started to draw developers recently. Prices in Somogy and Veszprém were more or less in synch up until the second quarter of 2016, but in County Veszprém there was a big bang in the second half of 2016, owing to new residential and other development projects. By 2018 the difference diminished because some large scale development projects had started in County Somogy, too (most notably in Siófok, Zamárdi, Balatonlelle, Fonyód and Balatonszemes).

Government super weapon apparently missed its target

napi.hu 4 July 2018 – The end of the preferential 5 per cent VAT rate will put an abrupt end to the housing boom and result in a brutal price increase of newly-built apartments. The almost 25 per cent price hike will have a serious effect on instalments paid for new apartments, new construction projects and on new developments after 2020, said to portfolio.hu based on a radio interview with Mihály Varga finance minister.

Varga reminded that the term of the Preferential VAT Act runs between 2016 and 2019 and that the government decided to forego significant tax income to further its demographic goals. However, 10 per cent of new apartments are bought by foreigners in Budapest, which means the benefit is exploited by real estate investors which is not what the government was aiming to achieve.

This is how crime rate affects apartment prices

In theory, there is a strong correlation between the crime rate and the property prices of a neighbourhood: security has a well-defined market value. However, in reality this relationship is not that straightforward: “As ever so often, the devil is in the details”, a property market analyst said. 60-70 per cent of the price of an apartment depends on the property’s physical parameters and the rest comes from the quality of the neighbourhood and the quantity and quality of services available locally. Crime and security have a strong influence, but we must also consider what type of crimes the statistics mention.

For example, although according to data published at www.police.hu the crime rate per 1000 inhabitants is the highest in downtown Budapest, apartments here are still some of the most expensive ones in the Hungarian capital: the average offering price of HUF 515 thousand in 2014 increased to HUF 862 thousand by 2016. The districts most severely hit by burglaries are the central ones in Buda (with the exception of District I.), and although the number of reported cases sank by 30-50 per cent in all of them, burglaries are still very frequent compared to the number of inhabitants.

Apartment buyers deterred by prices

napi.hu, 06.04.2017 – According to the transaction volume estimate of a large Hungarian property agency 11 560 apartments changed owners in March in Hungary. March was a strong month on the property market, far stronger than the second half of 2016, even considering the 7 per cent backlog compared to the same month of last year. The recoiling was caused by the earlier surge in property prices which forced the market to take a deep breath while potential buyers waited to see where prices were going next.

March transaction volumes and indeed the increased demand in February indicate a return of buyers to the market, which means the wait for lower prices is over. This is also supported by the increasing proportion of buyers purchasing for themselves as opposed to investors. In total, there were 29.6 thousand property sales transactions completed in the first quarter of 2017 in Hungary. In 2015 and 2016 the same figure was slightly over 30 thousand, while in 2013 it was a mere 18 thousand.