Housing

It is exceptionally important to us to provide more up-to-date information on the social and economic developments in our country, in addition to our regular and detailed publications.
Our WEEKLY MONITOR provides insights into trends in key areas through weekly, monthly and quarterly data from our interactive chart collection.
Most WEEKLY MONITOR charts can also be downloaded in image and data formats (PNG, SVG and CSV).

In July 2022, construction permits were issued for 23% more floor space than a year earlier. Planned floor space increased by nearly a quarter for both residential and non-residential buildings, with a decrease for single-family residential buildings and a significant increase for multi-family residential buildings and industrial non-residential buildings. The number of permits issued decreased for both types of residential buildings and increased only slightly for non-residential buildings.

In July 2022, rents for dwellings for rent were 2.3% higher than a month earlier in Hungary and 3.0% higher in Budapest. Compared to July of the previous year, asking rents increased by 23% in the country and by an average of 25% in Budapest. The largest increase was in the inner districts of Pest, up 27%. Rents in July were 13% above the pre-pandemic peak in January 2020 nationally and 15% in Budapest, but still below in real terms.

After a fall in 2020, linked to the Covid19 pandemic, the number and price of homes sold rose rapidly in 2021. In the first quarter of 2022, sales stopped growing, but the price of second-hand housing increased by 7.3% and new housing by 4.8%. The aggregate housing price index was 234% and price growth in real terms was 185% compared to the 2015 base year, making the Hungarian housing price increase the highest among the European countries reporting data.

In the first half of 2022, 9,133 new dwellings were built, 6.8% fewer than a year earlier. The number of homes to be built based on issued dwelling construction permits and simple declarations was 17,715, 16% more than in the same period of 2021.

Housing construction costs rose by 21% in Q1 2022 compared to a year earlier, driven by rising material and labour costs. The rise in material costs continued to play a major role in the increase, with the Russian–Ukrainian war adding to the global rise in construction raw material prices that started last year. In Q1, housing construction costs were 24% higher than in the same period of the previous year, and labour costs also increased significantly, by 16%.

Datasets from the Dissemination Database regarding settlements and Budapest’s districts have been updated with 2021 data, as such settlement and district related data for 2021 are available since 30 June, concerning, among others, dwelling stock, construction and cessation of dwellings, dwelling construction permits as well as district related data about local governments’ dwelling management.

2021 was the recovery year from the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy restarted, its performance –following the 2020 setback – surpassed the previous year’s by 7.1%. The pocketbook, published every spring, offers through its tables an insight into the 2021 developments of Hungary’s social, economic processes.