According to a ranking compiled by ingatlan.com, the most expensive piece of real estate put on sale in Hungary last year was a castle on Andrássy út in Budapest, for HUF 5.6 billion, with a living area of 2,200 square meters and 18 bedrooms.

In all, the number of sale and purchase transactions in 2017 was over 150,000 and is expected to reach 160,000 this year, according to estimates of real estate agency Otthon Centrum, quoted by business news site vg.hu. The agency expects the rate of price increases to continue to slow in 2018.

In Budapest, apartment prices are estimated to grow by 5-15%, and single family homes by anywhere between 1% and 20%. In the countryside, the increase is forecast to be 5-10%.

The completion of new residential buildings will reach a peak in 2018, and customer numbers are also expected to increase until the end of 2019, when VAT on new homes will return to its normal, higher rate, according to Otthon Centrum.

Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga told public television Tuesday that if the government decides that an extension of the preferential VAT rate on home construction is necessary, it will deal with the matter only in the second half of this year.
Home sales up 6% in December

Home sales in Hungary came to 9,787 in December, up 6.04% from the same month a year earlier, real estate broker Duna House said on Wednesday, based on estimates, as cited in a separate report by state news wire MTI.

In the fourth quarter of 2017, some 33,853 homes were sold in Hungary, compared to 30,715 in Q4 2016.

In 2017 as a whole, estimated home sales in Hungary amounted to 148,896, up 2.9% year-on-year.

At the same time, Duna House noted that there is a higher than normal degree of uncertainty concerning the number as there was not enough data available concerning sales of new homes.

Duna House said that earlier it estimated 144,674 homes were sold in Hungary in 2016, while the Central Statistical Office (KSH) put the number at 146,302.

Source: BBJ

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