Changes in the legislation of apartment purchase duties

napi.hu, 12.12.2017 – From 1 January 2018 there will be changes in the method of calculation of duties payable on apartment purchases. When calculating the “reduced” duty base, i.e. the value upon which the duty is payable or when applying duty exemption, the market value of an apartment sold within three years of the purchase can be considered, as opposed to one year allowed earlier. “Reduced duty” means that the buyer can deduct from the duty base created by the purchase of an apartment the market value of an apartment sold by the same buyer, i.e. the duty base will be the difference between the market value of the sold and the purchased apartments. As far as the market value of an apartment sold after the purchase is concerned the rules remain unchanged: it can only be reduced if the sale occurred within one year of the purchase transaction.

Overpriced properties on the Hungarian market

napi.hu, 05.01.2017 – A recent survey published by the Hungarian Statistical Office revealed that half of all Hungarian residential properties are worth less than HUF 10 million and one-third falls into the HUF 10-20 million category. Only every tenth property is worth more than HUF 20 million and less than five percent have a value of more than HUF 30 million. An apartment whose asking price is unrealistic will be sold with great difficulties only, no matter how strong the market is. Finding the perfect price is a key aspect of a successful sale and experienced property agents clearly have the edge here.

Overpricing can, in most cases, be attributed to one of two main reasons. In many cases the owner is also attached to the property emotionally and will attempt to reflect this attachment in the asking price. Another reason is the lack of experience: in their entire life, most people have the opportunity to sell two or three properties only, unlike real estate agents who, thanks to their professional experience, have a better overview of market prices.

Demand for housing was weak for most of 2023, but by the end of the year interest had increased, and from the beginning of 2024 the Csok Plus programme boosted the market

hvg.hu 16.04 In the first quarter of this year, home buyers took advantage of the new subsidy option in almost exactly one sixth of the loans, 16.7 percent. Of course, it was not only the Csok Plus programme that helped, but also the fact that interest rates have started to fall and inflation has also […]

Second highest house price increase in the EU since 2010 in Hungary

hvg.hu, 04 04 – In the last quarter of 2023, the average price of housing in the EU was 48 percent more expensive than in 2010 – Eurostat said. House prices in Hungary rose by 185 percent between 2010 and 2023. This is the second highest increase in the EU, with only Estonia 217 percent […]

Heirs left in the lurch at the probate hearing

napi.hu, 20.01 – Cryptocurrencies, social media profiles or documents stored in the cloud are increasingly common in probate proceedings. However, few people know that in lack of proper regulation and provisions, access to crypto currencies can be questionable for heirs, or that tech giants only allow access to deceased people’s data to those entitled to […]

Property and mortgage market data

napi.hu, 18.01 – More than a third of Budapest clients signed contracts for over HUF 20 million last year. Between September and December, for example, their share was 42%, which reflects an increase of 10 percentage points in 2021. The number of applications in this value range has increased steadily from quarter to quarter, to […]

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 […]