Massive funds could flow into Hungary's real estate market - Is another boom coming?
In her opening speech, Zsuzsa Lipták, CEO of zenga.hu, explained how real estate agents can benefit from the new brands, presenting their new product to the industry, which will be launched in a comprehensive campaign in the coming weeks.
Afterwards, Dorottya Pápai MRICS, Business Development Director of RE/MAX Hungary, spoke about the fact that one of the most important things in the business is the trust that the client has in the expert. And trust is based on expertise. She stressed the importance he attaches to education, as she believes that a 3-month course based on the baccalaureate is not enough.
After the presentations, experts shared their thoughts on the present and future of intermediaries, market competition and real estate agent fees in a panel discussion, rating the current market sentiment on a scale of 1 to 5.
Zoltán Gadanecz, the founding owner of GDN Real Estate Network, gave the current situation a 3-4 rating, pointing out that there is a clear growth,
but the rally of the past period has slowed down, so now the expertise of the intermediaries is really gaining value.
According to Ferenc Máté, Deputy CEO of Duna House Group, buyer interest is at a 2-3 year high and he is optimistic about the future. The expert believes that seeing the interest rates on government securities the market will not lack the resources, and that confidence has improved among the population.
Lipták of Zenga.hu, said that they can track the number of visitors in real time, and in the first eight months of the year they have seen an increase of 30-40%. While many properties were on the site for more than 6-12 months last year, the number of properties that are sold within two months has now doubled.
Pápai of RE/MAX Hungary said many people have postponed their purchases over the past two years, and that these transactions could come to the market now, and some of the capital that will soon be released from government securities could also be injected into the real estate market.
Market trends - What can we expect in a year's time?
Some HUF 1,700 billion of Premium Hungarian Government Security (PMÁP) holdings are expected to be released early next year, part of which could be channelled into the real estate market.
According to experts, between HUF 500 bn and 1,000 billion could end up in the hands of the population, which could make its way to the real estate market, increasing the number of transactions by up to 20,000.
According to Dávid Valkó, senior analyst at OTP Ingatlanpont, this year has started well, and based on the 36% growth in the first quarter according to official statistics, the year as a whole could see a one-third increase in turnover, which could mean 140,000 transactions.
Flóra Horti, analyst at MBH Bank, also expects 130,000 to 140,000 transactions this year. She stressed the need for further state support, especially for financing energy investments, as a large part of the domestic housing stock is substandard. However, further support could also be launched for the construction of new housing, thus supporting the construction industry.
Balázs Sándorfi, founding managing director of Bankmonitor, said that the housing market is unthinkable without the housing loan market. He believes that the current interest rate level is a gift because it is significantly lower than bank pricing would justify, so it is much more likely to remain at current levels than to fall substantially.
According to Krisztián Fülöp, business manager of Duna House Group, if you buy a property without financing, you are making a mistake. On state subsidies, he said that everything comes at a price: it often happens that you have to wait so long for a subsidy for bureaucratic reasons that the price level rises, and the applicant may not necessarily benefit. So if you wait now for a good subsidy next year, you may not be making the right decision.
Sándor Winkler, Head of the Real Estate Market Analysis Department of the MNB, spoke about the lending statistics based on the central bank's analyses. He is moderately optimistic about the future and expects no change in interest rates. On the demand side, he said that government subsidies have played a dominant role in transaction numbers recently, with 30% of loans being in some form of subsidised lending.
However, the announcement made by the Economy Ministry a day after the conference could have a bigger impact on the development of mortgage rates.
"Niche" markets and business building in real estate
Dániel Csorba, founder of dandan.hu, real estate expert, "youtuber and nerd", talked about building a company in the shadow of big networks. He also addressed the advantages and disadvantages of niche markets. The advantage of the niche market is that it is smaller than the whole, but that is also the disadvantage, because a franchise can easily get a foothold there. He then went on to illustrate the main challenges in this area with his own examples.
Attila Szűcs, real estate expert and owner of Ingatlanpáholy, spoke about holistic business building and the challenges and pitfalls of real estate brokerage. He stressed that there are four key things to consider to be successful in the profession. The first one is the objective and the second is resource management, i.e. delegating certain things and not doing everything ourselves. The third is innovation and the application of technology, and the fourth is the development of managerial competences to provide a complete customer service.
How to close clients
From cold calling to classic and cutting-edge marketing communication trends and techniques, the experts of the third panel discussion, moderated by Edit Vincze, Managing Director of OC Investment Solutions, first discussed what makes a cold call successful.
According to János Pacsek, sales trainer; cold call and objection handling specialist, BestLine Consulting Ltd., you should not rely on luck how a cold call turns out, you should be able to differentiate yourself from the others in the first few seconds, because customers receive a lot of cold calls.
Artificial intelligence cannot yet replace cold calling,
but persistence is essential for cold calling.
The important thing is not what we say, but how we make the prospective client feel. The secret is consistency, don't try to outsource cold calling immediately and save work, as this will also help you to get to know the market better, Dávid Török, real estate expert at Otthon Centrum.
Patrícia Hanis, PPC Teamlead, Vieeye Online Marketing spoke about the importance of online presence, highlighting how online campaigns can even support calls and lead acquisition. It's important to establish an identity on social media, even if only on one platform initially, building your own identity there with relevant content.
Artificial intelligence and the real estate industry
Experts discussed the role of AI in real estate brokerage in the fourth panel discussion of the conference, moderated by Gábor Kiss, Managing Director of Metrodom Executing, Vice President of IFK, on who and how can benefit from the digital transformation of the real estate industry.
According to Péter Görzsöny, real estate software developer, Gorzsonypeter.hu, convenience and efficiency are the two keywords in the application of digitalisation. In his view,
AI will take over the work in many areas, but we are not there yet in the field of valuation, which requires large amounts of parameterised, up-to-date and accurate data, which are still lacking in Hungary.
László Balogh, chief economic expert of ingatlan.com and member of the Board of Directors, pointed out that nobody advertises in newspapers anymore, the real estate market has moved to the digital space. But AI needs to be taught, and can the foundations must be solid if you want to build anything. In practice, AI-assisted valuation can only be applied to properties whose value can be easily determined anyway.
What is in store for real estate brokarages?
The present and the future of the real estate brokerage industry, the impossibility of exclusive contracts, and the controversial Airbnb regulation were also discussed at the closing panel discussion of the conference, where Guy Dymschiz, co-CEO of Duna House, and Tibor Nagygyörgy, founder of Otthon Centrum, owner of Biggeorge Holding, CEO of Biggeorge Property Nyrt. sat down at the same table.
Although the market has changed a lot in the last two decades, the real estate business is basically the same today, the work is exactly the same as it was 20 years ago and is not expected to change in the next five years, said Guy Dymschiz. He noted that the market is now stable, so networks and private networks can coexist, although the technical background also matters.
The fact is that the profession has still room for improvement, so that people are more courageous to ask for expert help, remarked Tibor Nagygyörgy about the perception of the profession. On regulation, he believes that excessive state intervention would not be good for the market.
Guy Dymschiz agreed, but said that the issue of exclusive mandates, which are currently being made impossible, should be addressed. He said
a non-exclusive contract is like ordering pizza from five different places but saying we'll only pay the first one to arrive.
Quality service in real estate can only be achieved through exclusive contracts, he added.
A ban on short-term rentals will not have a significant impact on the market in the long term,
but may lead to an increase in supply in the short term, which will be reflected in prices and rents. However, it will not help affordability and will not drive tourists out of the inner districts, experts said.
Cover photo (for illustration purposes only): Getty Images
