Property 2 April 2024, 3:50pm

Sellers appear on the Hungarian housing market

Portfolio

Demand for homes for sale was still greater in Hungary in March this year than in the same month of 2023 year, but the 20% year-on-year growth in February was followed "only" by a 16% increase last month, according to the latest analysis of real estate platform ingatlan.com. According to data from ingatlan.com, there were 145,000 apartments and houses for sale in the property listings at the end of March, which consisted of 220,000 ads, up 8% from a year earlier. And compared to March 2022, there are more than 40% more apartments and houses for sale.

The year-on-year demand growth of around 20% seen at the beginning of the year has moderated somewhat, but is still significant. And the upturn in interest could be reflected in the number of sales in the spring months. In March, according to the search portal, buyers making avail of the CSOK Plus family housing allowance were much more active than in January-February, so this new form of support may also contribute to the recovery of the housing market, said László Balogh, chief economic expert at ingatlan.com.

Buyers entering the market now have the advantage of a wider choice of loans than in March last year, while interest rates on home loans are significantly lower. "In addition, the financial situation of homebuyers is also strengthened by the fact that they can sell their own property for sale much more easily than in the past, which is a great help in moving on," the expert said.

What happened where?

Among the counties, Csongrád-Csanád continues to stand out from the field in terms of demand, with almost 50% more people interested in residential property for sale in March. Supply, however, has not kept pace with the surge, with 10% fewer homes being up for sale on the market in March than in the same month of 2023.

In March, the counties of Bács-Kiskun, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Győr-Moson-Sopron, Heves, Komárom-Esztergom and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg also recorded significant increases in demand of over 22-28%. However, the number of advertisements posted decreased by 2% compared to March 2023.

According to the ingatlan.com expert, the drop in new supply is also due to the national and Easter holiday periods. According to the analysis, the counties of Nógrád, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok and Vas had the highest number of residential properties for sale in March, with an annual increase of 15-43%. Demand in these counties increased by 5-11%.

kereslet-terkep-667879 (1) — Annual change in telephone enquiries for flats and houses for sale in March 2024.

In Budapest, interest in residential property for sale increased by 16% year-on-year in March. More than 12,000 homes for sale were advertised by owners and real estate agents in the capital, 8% fewer than a year ago.

Major upturn expected

On the development of the domestic housing market, László Balogh said that thanks to the recovery, based on the current outlook, there could be as many as 120,000 sales in 2024, which would be 15-20% higher than the nine-year low of 2023.

Importantly, the pick-up in demand has not yet been accompanied by a significant rise in prices, which also creates an ideal situation for home buyers entering the market.