Hungary residential property transactions show month-on-month contraction
The Hungarian real estate market has shifted into its summer speed, with a total of 9,323 transactions concluded in June, down by 15% month on month, according to Duna House estimates. Compared to June 2023, however, this figure still marks a 30.9% increase. (Interestingly enough, DH reported a mere 13.4% yr/yr increase for June, which would give us 8,221 transactions in June 2023, but Portfolio's data series, which is based on the monthly DH reports, shows only 7,120 transactions for last June, hence the nearly 31% yr/yr growth. There was either a retroactive data revision that we don't know about or DH has just got the calculation wrong.)
In theory, this means that on average a home is sold every five minutes in the country.
61,646 DWELLINGS WERE SOLD IN THE FIRST half OF THE YEAR, a 40% year-on-year growth, and a figure PROPORTIONATELY sufficient TO REACH THE 110,000 TO 130,000 TRANSACTIONS DUNA HOUSE PROJECTS FOR THE YEAR.
This is how the first six months of 2024 look like compared to January-June of the previous three years.
The mortgage market remained strong in the first summer month, with HUF 110 billion in mortgage loans contracted, the same as in May. The June figure represents an increase of 107% compared to central bank (MNB) data for the same period last year. On a six-month basis, based on the MNB's actual data for January-April and DH's May-June estimate, the mortgage market volume growth was 136% in the first six months of 2024.
The graph below shows that the robust 30.9% yr/yr growth in June came on the back of a modest 7.7% increase in May, and the 15% m/m contraction comes after a 2.1% m/m decline. (The second graph below just give you a closer look on the past three years.)
Cover photo: Getty Images
