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1024 Budapest Hungary
Attorney's phone number Tel.: +36 1 316 9233
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Attorney's office e-mail info@drlittner.hu

What would Hungarians invest HUF 10 million in?

napi.hu, 27.08. – In a recent survey, 46% of those surveyed replied that they would invest their HUF 10 million primarily in real estate. Foreign currency is in second place, but it lags way behind. 12 percent said they would put their money in dollars or euros. Gold is in third place, 11% have the highest confidence in precious metals and only 10% of the population would buy government bonds with the money. Only 5 percent are considering riskier investments such as shares, and the same number said they would buy cryptocurrency with HUF 10 million. The latter is considered an even riskier investment than shares. On a positive note, only 3 percent of respondents said they would keep their HUF 10 million in cash, and 8 percent would have chosen some other form of investment. 54 percent of women would invest their HUF 10 million in real estate, compared to only 38 percent of men. Government bonds came second for men, but not far behind in the popularity rankings were the euro and the dollar, as well as gold. For women, foreign currency was the second most popular investment, followed by gold, and government bonds were only in fourth place.

Real estate market recovered

napi.hu, 06.10 – According to Q3 2020 data the real estate turnover in the Hungarian market has already recovered. Judged by the analysis of a major real estate agency the number of sales in these three months was the same, about 38 thousand, as in July-September last year. The company expects a balanced market in the last quarter of the year and the same activity as last year, which could mean 34-35 thousand sales.

According to data published by the company, 2,708 properties changed hands in September nationwide, and buyers took out residential mortgages worth HUF 75 billion. Although real estate sales fell short of September by about 5 percent year-on-year, the entire quarter saw no sign of the previous decline, and the market now shows the intensity of a year ago.

According to the company, the mortgage loan market is also showing signs of recovery, as the estimated volume of HUF 75 billion is the same as last year’s central bank data, and the market performed well on a quarterly basis, too. In the third quarter of this year, people spent a total of nearly HUF 225 billion on housing loans for residential purposes, based on estimates and central bank data.

New apartments may flood the market

napi.hu, 04.11.2017 – A leading real estate expert said as a result of the 5 per cent preferential VAT rate that is expected to expire in 2019 the number of newly built apartments will become available on the market in the next couple of years will exceed even today’s figures.

There is an apartment construction boom in Hungary which, apart from the reduced VAT rate, is also due to CSOK, the Family Home Allowance. On a year-on-year basis the number of new apartments completed grew by 50 per cent in the first three quarters of 2017. The average price per square metre in Budapest, the Western and Eastern regions of Hungary is approximately 650-700k HUF, 360-400k HUF and 350-380k HUF, respectively. The differences are even greater for pre-owned apartments: these properties are three times more expensive in Budapest than in other parts of the country.

CSOK has still not taken grip

napi.hu, 27.09.2016. – The initial enthusiasm has ebbed and now CSOK (Family Home Allowance) does not seem to be such a success story after all. Real estate agents say the most serious problem is the sluggishness of the approval and disbursement procedure, which in turn causes extreme difficulties to construction contractors. CSOK is unlike a bank loan that you can apply for during the construction phase. The future allowance must be pre-financed either by the buyer or the developer. Most applicants are still waiting for their money even though they signed their contracts months ago. Banks regularly reject the documents, requesting new or additional information or amendments. On account of the poor experience of the past months developers and construction contractors are not happy to deal with CSOK clients and ask their real agents not to engage buyers who want to finance their purchase of a new apartment from CSOK.