After a downturn in 2020, linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, the number and price of homes sold in 2021 rose rapidly during the year. In the first quarter of 2022, sales stopped expanding further, but prices picked up again. The price of second-hand dwellings rose by 7.3% and new dwellings by 4.8% in one quarter.

The aggregate housing price index reached 234% of the 2015 base, however, price growth in real terms was 185%.

The increase in Hungarian house prices relative to their base remains the highest among the European countries reporting data. However, in terms of annual growth, the Czech Republic and Estonia exceed and the Netherlands and Lithuania match the growth observed in Hungary.

Housing market turnover did not expand significantly

In contrast to the year of the Covid19 outbreak, in 2021 the new waves of outbreaks no longer caused a downturn in the housing market. This year, the number of homes sold returned to pre-epidemic levels, and the 2021 housing sales, measured at similar processing rates, were 18% higher than in 2020 and were the same as in 2019.

In the first quarter of 2022, there was no further significant shift in the overall housing market: the 0.5% increase in the overall housing market in Q1 2022, with similar levels of processing, was due to a slight increase in the number of second-hand dwellings sold (1.7%) and a decline in the number of new dwellings sold.

Home price growth accelerated again at the beginning of the year

The price surge in the first quarter of 2021 was followed by a slowdown in the rest of the year. In the first quarter of 2022, price increases accelerated again: prices of second-hand dwellings were 7.3% higher than in the previous quarter, while new dwellings were 4.8% higher. Compared with the same period of the previous year, prices of second-hand dwellings were 20% higher and those of new dwellings 19% higher. While the spike at the beginning of last year was mainly due to the emergence of new home purchase subsidies, the current rapid rise has occurred in a largely unchanged regulatory environment, but with rising mortgage rates and inflation.

Since the base period of 2015, housing prices have more than doubled in both submarkets: the base index for second-hand dwellings was 232% in Q1 2022, while the new dwellings index was 247%. The combined nominal price index for new and second-hand dwellings reached 234%.

Since 2021, the rising consumer price index has increasingly modified the evolution of real prices. In Q1 2022, the real value of the aggregate house price index calculated on the basis of the CPI was 185%, so the increase in real house prices, as opposed to the nominal one, is still below double.

New housing market in Q1 2022

• The number of transactions known so far exceeds 10,000 in 2021. Only data for 570 of the new dwellings sold in Q1 2022 are available so far, limiting the more detailed presentation of the new housing market in several respects.

• In 2021, the average price of a new home was HUF 45.6 million, up HUF 9 million on the previous year. In Q1 2022, the average price of the transactions processed so far was HUF 45.8 million, which is still below the previous quarter (HUF 47.6 million) due to the higher share of new dwellings outside big cities.

• In Budapest, the average price of a new apartment was HUF 53.9 million in 2021, and in the first quarter of 2022 it exceeded HUF 61 million. The specific price crossed the HUF 1 million mark at the same time.

• The average price per square metre of new dwellings in county seats rose to HUF 542 thousand in 2021 and HUF 619 thousand in the first quarter of 2022. Among them, Debrecen and Székesfehérvár had the highest prices for new dwellings in 2021, with Győr catching up in Q1 2022, so prices in these three county seats were between HUF 700 and 750 thousand. Nyíregyháza closes the ranking of county seats with a considerable number of new housing sales, where the price per square metre rose from 430 thousand in 2021 to 482 thousand in Q1 2022.

• The specific price level of the settlements around Lake Balaton of HUF 780 thousand in 2021 increased by almost a fifth to HUF 932 thousand in the first quarter of 2022.

The prices of new dwellings delivered in the period under review are usually set in contracts signed several months or even years earlier, so the price level of new dwellings presented here is below the supply price level of the period and only gives information on the price evolution of dwellings actually delivered.

The housing market weight of smaller settlements exceeds that of large cities

After the first waves of the epidemic, the number of second-hand dwellings sold increased in 2021 in all categories of municipalities. In Budapest, after a decline in the first year of the epidemic, sales increased rapidly, already exceeding the 2019 level by 13%. The data processed so far in Q1 2022 show a further slight increase (6.8%). Despite the post-epidemic recovery, the share of the capital in the total second-hand housing market remains low (19%).

The majority of second-hand dwellings were still sold in smaller towns and villages in 2021.

The introduction of the CSOK in 2015 and the Village CSOK in 2019 have also contributed to the fact that the weight of the second-hand housing market in smaller towns and villages now exceeds that of larger municipalities. Since 2019, more housing units have been sold in villages eligible for the village CSOK programme than in Budapest every year.

The second-hand housing market in the Budapest agglomeration started to expand again after 2013, peaking at over 10,000 transactions per year in 2016-2018, before declining again. The number of sales received so far in 2021 does not reach 6,000, but the slower processing of data for Pest County could still significantly change this figure.

Second-hand housing market in Q1 2022

• The average price per square metre of second-hand housing increased from 334 thousand in 2021 to 362 thousand forints.

• In Budapest, the average price of a second-hand apartment is HUF 40.5 million, 0.8 million more than in 2021. At the same time, the specific price increased from HUF 687,000 to HUF 766,000.

• The increased interest in detached houses following the epidemic continues. As a consequence, house prices in the non-hilly districts of the Buda side and in the inner districts of Pest continued to rise at a more moderate pace than in the districts with detached houses. The average price of single-family houses rose from HUF 69 million in 2021 to over HUF 80 million (17%), while the average apartment price of multi-family buildings barely moved from the 2021 level, and also the rise of panel housing estates (11%) did not reach the increase in the price of single-family houses.

• The average price of a second-hand dwelling in the county seats increased from HUF 23.5 million to HUF 25.6 million. The price per square metre rose from 369 thousand to 435 thousand. Veszprém, Debrecen, Székesfehérvár and Győr are the most expensive county seats, while Salgótarján continues to close the list with an average price of HUF 166 thousand.

• In the Balaton agglomeration, the price of second-hand housing has risen from HUF 41.8 million in 2021 to HUF 46.2 million. The specific price exceeded HUF 580 thousand.

House prices rose in all EU Member States

Eurostat's house price index shows the combined evolution of prices for second-hand and new dwellings. In Q1 2022, the aggregate EU27_2020 house price index was 144.9% of the 2015 base, while the euro area house price index was 141.8%. Compared with the previous quarter, the increase in the Member States as a whole was slightly higher than in the euro area (2.1% and 1.7% respectively).

In Q1 2022

• On a 2015 basis, Hungary's aggregate house price index, calculated according to Eurostat's methodology, stood at 234%, still the highest among the countries reporting data.

• The index in the Czech Republic also exceeded twice the figure measured in the base period (211%).

• The index was just above the base in Cyprus (104%) and Italy (106%).

• Compared to the same period last year, the Czech Republic and Estonia recorded the highest increases in home prices (25 and 21% respectively), followed by the Netherlands, Lithuania and Hungary, with increases of 19% each.

• Among the neighbouring countries, Slovenia recorded the highest annual price increases (17%), Slovakia and Austria 14% and Romania 6% higher nominal prices than a year earlier.

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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