After the rapid price increase at the beginning of the year, further housing price increases continued in Budapest in Q2 2024, but slowed or stopped in rural areas. Following the decline in 2023, housing market activity picked up in almost all regions of the country and has already significantly exceeded the low base of the previous year. However, the aggregate turnover of the overall housing market in 2023 was below the level of a year earlier. In 2023, fewer foreign nationals bought a dwelling than in 2022.

Further recovery in the housing market

After a decline in housing market turnover that started in 2022, housing sales fell by a further 24% in 2023. A total of 105 thousand dwellings changed hands during the year, of which 6.2% were new builds.

In Q4 2023, the downward trend was reversed, with 13% more dwellings sold than a year earlier. In Q1 2024, the overall housing market continued to grow. Compared to the - rather low - base of the same period of the previous year, the increase is estimated at 39% in Q1 and 26% in Q2 2024, based on data observed at similar processing rates. In Q1-Q2 2024, sales of second-hand dwellings increased by nearly a third and new dwellings by 54% compared to a year earlier.

Prices stopped rising in Q2 2024 after a strong start to the year

The price level of the overall housing market in 2023 was 7.1% higher than in the previous year, including 6.0% for second-hand housing and 15% for new housing, with the rate of increase significantly below the faster rate of price rises in previous years. The overall housing price index was 273% of the 2015 base. Used dwellings were 167% more expensive than in 2015, while new dwellings were 210% more expensive.

After a slower pace of price increases in 2023, second-hand housing price increases accelerated to 8.1% in Q1 2024 compared to the previous quarter. New homes cost 5.8% more than a quarter earlier. However, Q2 saw no further increase in prices of second-hand dwellings (0.1%), and the price level of new home sales processed so far only rose slightly further (1.6%).

Nominal housing price growth in 2023 lagged behind that of consumer prices, so that the real price level of the overall housing market fell by 8.8% this year compared to the previous year.

The rapid increase in Q1 2024 was also noticeable in real terms, with prices for second-hand dwellings rising by 6.9% and new dwellings by 4.6% compared to the previous quarter. Due to the slowdown in Q2, the real price of second-hand dwellings fell slightly (-1.3%) and new dwellings did not increase significantly (0.2%).

In Q2 2024, the real price of second-hand dwellings was 78% above its 2015 base and that of new dwellings 113% above.

Total annual housing market turnover also declined

The aggregate value of housing sales in 2023 was HUF 3,283 billion, HUF 773 billion, almost a fifth less than a year earlier. The rate of decline even exceeded the decline recorded in 2020, the year of the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic. In 2022, the decline in sales was offset by rapid price increases, but in 2023, housing prices rose at a slower pace, in addition to the decline in market sales, which was less able to compensate for the negative trend. Total sales of new dwellings fell by 5.3% and of second-hand dwellings by 11%. Sales in Budapest accounted for 41% of the total value of sales, with no significant change compared to the previous year.

The vast majority of home buyers are middle-aged

In 2023, 62% of all dwellings sold were bought by people aged 35-64. Purchases by those under 35 accounted for 27% of all transactions. This share was only 23% in Budapest and 33% in the villages. The share of young people in the new housing market was below average at 20%. This proportion is typical for both the capital and the rural towns. Only in the villages, where the number of new dwellings was small, did young people account for a higher share of 30%. Housing market activity among older people is traditionally low in Hungary, with only one in ten buyers aged 64 and over in 2023.

In 2023, the average value of dwellings bought by young people was HUF 26 million, while in Budapest it was HUF 48 million.

Fewer foreign buyers

In 2023, 6.3 thousand foreign citizens bought a home in Hungary, 1.7 thousand fewer than a year earlier. Non-Hungarians accounted for 5.9% of all housing transactions and 7.6% of the total housing market value.

With the exception of Vietnamese and Russians, there were fewer homebuyers from all countries than in the previous year.

• In 2023, the share of foreign buyers in Budapest was 9.1%. Their weight was well above average in the inner districts of Pest, where 22% of transactions were made by foreign buyers. In terms of the total value of their purchases, their share was even higher: 12% in the total housing market of the capital and 28% in the inner districts of Pest.

• The share of foreigners was high in the Somogy county housing market, where they accounted for 14% of sales and 18% of the total market value. In Zala, their share of purchases was even higher (22%), while their share of the total market value was slightly lower (17%), with non-Hungarians in the region generally buying homes at lower prices than locals.

• German citizens (around 1.5 thousand) continued to be the largest group of foreign home buyers, but their number did not reach the seven-tenths of a year earlier. One in two of the German buyers bought a home in Somogy or Zala county, while the share of their purchases in Budapest remained low.

• The number of Chinese customers was over a thousand a year before the coronavirus outbreak, and then halved in the years of the outbreak. After a temporary increase in 2022 (814), the number of Chinese buyers fell again in 2023 (588). Apart from Vietnamese, Chinese customers have the fewest elderly customers, with 65 years and older accounting for only a small proportion. They typically purchased in Budapest, and accordingly their spending was the highest.

Housing market activity picked up in all areas

The downturn that started in 2022 hit housing sales in the larger settlements harder, but afterwards the recovery started more quickly. The housing market in the villages only exceeded the level of the previous year in Q1 2024, while in the larger settlements this had already happened in the previous quarter.

In 2023, sales were 24% down on the previous year nationally and 27% down in the capital. The smaller, non-county seat towns were the least affected by the market decline, with sales in this category of settlements falling by 19%. In Q1 2024, sales in Budapest were 55% higher than a year earlier, while in the municipalities they were only 16% higher. The growth rate was similar in Q2, with a 38% increase in the capital compared to an increase of around 9% in the villages. Based on data at the same level of processing, it can be concluded that the number of housing sales has exceeded the low point of 2023 everywhere, but has not yet reached the level typical of the years before.

Prices in the new housing market continue to rise amid tightening supply

In 2023, data on nearly 6.6 thousand new homes sold have been received so far, and in the first and second quarters of 2024, around 1.8 thousand.

New housing market in Q1-Q2 2024

• The national average price rose from 62.6 million to 66.1 million forints in 2023. The price per square metre reached HUF 1.2 million.

• In Budapest, the average price of a new dwelling was HUF 79 million, HUF 7.9 million more than in 2023. The average price per square metre was close to HUF 1.5 million.

• The 11th district of Budapest had the highest number of new dwellings sold (256), with an average price of 101 and a price per square metre of 1.8 million HUF. This was exceeded only in the Buda hill districts, where new dwellings sold for an average of HUF 170 million and HUF 2.3 million per square metre. At the same time, specific prices above HUF 1 million have become common in the outer districts of Pest.

• Significant local differences can also be observed behind the average price of new dwellings in the county seats and smaller towns, which stood at HUF 850 000 and HUF 860 000 respectively: prices per square metre exceeded HUF 1 million in Székesfehérvár and Debrecen, while in Nyíregyháza they were below HUF 700 000. Several county seats have so far reported negligible (Miskolc, Eger, Tatabánya, Miskolc) or no sales (Salgótarján, Kaposvár).

• The price of new housing in Siófok also continued to rise, reaching HUF 1.4 million per square metre.

Contrasting trends in the second-hand housing market

After the general price increase in Q1 2024, prices in the capital and in the countryside showed divergent trends in Q2 2024. Average prices in Budapest continued to rise, while in the rest of the country the data processed so far indicate a slowdown. This has further widened the gap between the capital and the countryside: in 2015, second-hand housing prices in Budapest were on average 3.8 times higher than in rural non-metropolitan areas, while the gap is now 4.8 times higher.

Second-home market in Q1-Q2 2024

• The national average price of a dwelling was HUF 32.9 million, HUF 3.3 million more than the 2023 average. The price per square metre of HUF 519,000 was HUF 79,000 higher than in the previous year.

• In Budapest, a dwelling cost an average of HUF 52.6 million, 1 million more than in 2023. The price per square metre rose from 887 thousand HUF in the previous year to 942 thousand HUF. After low growth or temporary stagnation in previous quarters, housing prices rose in all Budapest districts. In the hilly districts of Buda, prices rose at a much faster pace in Q2, following a subdued increase in Q1.

• In Budapest, prices of prefab homes continued to increase the most (by 8.3%), while prices in non-prefab multi-dwelling buildings and detached houses increased by 5.9% and 4.3% respectively compared to 2023.

• In the Balaton agglomeration, the price increase continued in the first quarter, but slowed down in the second quarter, with the average price settling at HUF 760 thousand/m²

• In the Budapest agglomeration, the average price of HUF 636,000 in 2023 rose to HUF 680,000 in Q1, but remained unchanged over the next three months.

Housing prices rose in both EU Member States and the euro area

In Q2 2024, the aggregate housing price index for the 27 EU Member States was 152% of the 2015 base. After a slower rise in the previous quarter, housing prices rose by 1.9% in a quarter. Within the euro area, the housing price index was 145%, with prices in this group of Member States up 1.8% compared to Q1. The Hungarian aggregate index was 300%, still the highest nominal index among the countries reporting data.

Q2 2024

• Compared with the previous period, price increases were sharp in Croatia (4.3%) and Portugal (3.9%). Price decreases of 0.2% were recorded in Belgium and France.

• In Germany, housing prices rose by 1.3% after almost two years of falling home prices.

• In Poland, housing prices rose by 18% in a year, the largest annual increase among the countries surveyed.

• In annual comparison, among the neighbouring countries, prices fell slightly in Austria (-0.7%), while in the other neighbouring Member States they rose by 4.0% in Slovakia, 6.8% in Romania and 6.7% in Slovenia.

Further data and information

Methodological notes

Annual national data:
18.1.1.1. Summary data of housing
18.1.1.13. Housing price indices
18.1.1.14. Mean price per dwelling and sqm by region and building type
18.1.1.15. Number of housing transactions made by private persons

Annual regional data:
18.1.2.8. Mean price per dwelling by region and settlement type
18.1.2.9. Mean price per sqm by region and settlement type
18.1.2.10. Number of housing transactions made by private persons by region and settlement type
18.1.2.11. Mean price per dwelling by region and building type
18.1.2.12. Mean price per sqm by region and building type

Infra-annual national data:
18.2.1.1. Summary data of housing (quarterly data)
18.2.1.8. Housing price indices by quarter years
18.2.1.9. Number of housing transactions made by private persons by quarter years

Infra-annual regional data:
18.2.2.13. Mean price per dwelling by region and settlement type (quarterly data)
18.2.2.14. Mean price per sqm by region and settlement type (quarterly data)
18.2.2.15. Number of housing transactions made by private persons by region and settlement type (quarterly data)
18.2.2.16. Mean price per dwelling by region and building type (quarterly data)
18.2.2.17. Mean price per sqm by region and building type (quarterly data)

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