Outstanding number of construction permits in Budapest
In Q1 2025, 2,704 new dwellings were built, 2.7% fewer than a year earlier. The number of dwellings to be built on the basis of construction permits and simple declarations was 5,651, 25% more than in the same period of 2024.
In the first quarter of 2025, 2,704 dwellings were taken into use, a decrease of 2.7% compared to the low base in the same period of the previous year. In the capital, only 843 dwellings were built, 7.4% less than in the previous year. In the towns of county rank, 33% fewer dwellings were built, their combined number did not even reach half of the new dwellings in the capital. In smaller municipalities, on the other hand, more dwellings were delivered than a year earlier: 29% more in towns without county rank and 2.5% more in villages.
The spatial concentration of housing construction in the capital remains strong. More than two thirds of new dwellings in Budapest were built in three districts: 277 new dwellings were taken into use in district IX, 172 in district XI and 130 in district XIX.
In the majority of regions, the number of housing constructions decreased compared to the same period last year, especially in the regions of Central Transdanubia, Southern and Northern Great Plain (by 46%, 40% and 48% respectively), while in the Pest region, an increase of 21% was registered, so despite the decrease in the capital, 4.0% more dwellings were built in Central Hungary in Q1.
Several areas contributed to the 43% increase in housing construction in the Western Transdanubian region, while the 2.3-fold increase in the Southern Transdanubian region was limited to its Balaton area.
The share of dwellings built by natural persons fell from 38% to 34%, while that built by enterprises increased from 61% to 66% compared to a year earlier.
50% of dwellings put into use in new residential buildings are in detached houses, 41% in multi-storey, multi-dwelling buildings and 4.5% in residential complexes.
The average floor area of dwellings taken into use decreased by 1.9 m2 to 94.6 m2 compared to the first quarter of 2024. The average size of dwellings in the capital was 75m2.
The share of homes built for sale was 65%, while those built for owner-occupation accounted for 32%, with the distribution shifting towards those built for sale, by about 5 percentage points.
At the national level, the number of dwellings to be built under construction permits and simple declarations was 5,651, 25% more than a year earlier. The increase was mainly driven by some large-scale investments in the capital. In Budapest, a total of 2,674 dwellings were authorised for construction, 2.9 times more than a year earlier. Three quarters of the permitted housing construction in the capital will take place in four districts. In district XI alone, nearly 1,000 permits have been issued, followed by districts X, XIII and XXI, together with a further 1,000 dwellings.
In all categories of municipalities except the capital, the number of construction permits decreased compared to the first quarter of 2024: by 17% in towns of county rank, by 25% in other towns and by 6.5% in villages. The decrease in the towns of county rank was significantly compensated by the high number of construction permits in Szeged (for 451 dwellings).
Outside Budapest, the number of permits issued increased in the Central Transdanubian and Southern Great Plain regions, while it decreased in the other regions. The largest decline was in Northern Great Plain, where 71% fewer dwellings were initiated for construction than in the first quarter of 2024.
Builders made use of the simple declaration option in 30% of cases.
The number of new building permits issued in the country was 3.3% lower than in the previous year, with a total of 1,846 residential buildings planned. The total number of non-residential buildings to be built in the country was 649, 24% fewer than a year earlier.
New dwelling construction permits and simple declarations, dwellings put to use and ceased
| Territorial unit | New dwelling construction permits issued (declarations) | Number of dwellings put to use | Number of dwellings ceased to exist | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| number | quarter 1 2025 as a percentage of quarter 1 2024 | quarter 1 2024 | quarter 1 2025 | quarter 1 2025 as a percentage of quarter 1 2024 | quarter 1 2024 | quarter 1 2025 | |||
| quarter 1 2024 | quarter 1 2025 | ||||||||
| total | of which: simple declarations | ||||||||
| Budapest | 922 | 2674 | 175 | 290.0 | 910 | 843 | 92.6 | 10 | 47 |
| Towns of county rank | 1287 | 1070 | 311 | 83.1 | 624 | 415 | 66.5 | 159 | 24 |
| Other towns | 1368 | 1022 | 533 | 74.7 | 637 | 823 | 129.2 | 136 | 136 |
| Villages | 947 | 885 | 655 | 93.5 | 608 | 623 | 102.5 | 119 | 76 |
| Total | 4524 | 5651 | 1674 | 124.9 | 2779 | 2704 | 97.3 | 424 | 283 |