Is "Park City" Better for Budapest Than "Mini Dubai"?
- 17 Oct 2024 5:40 AM
If the government is serious about supporting housing projects in Budapest, it should support the construction of "Park City", a project including affordable housing in the city's 14th district, rather than earmarking the area for the "mini Dubai" office and apartment complex, which will drive prices up further and deepen the housing crisis, Mayor Gergely Karacsony said on Wednesday.
Commenting on statements of Gergely Gulyas, the head of the PM's Office, at a regular press briefing earlier in the day, Karacsony said on Facebook that instead of supporting a Chinese investment in the south of the city, the government could throw its weight behind Student City, a project aimed at improving student housing.
Budapest is ready to start the largest housing programme of the past 30 years. In the coming years, the municipality will spend 20 billion forints (EUR 50.0m) on rent support, affordable housing, and on bringing empty apartments into the programme, the mayor said. "I realise more would be needed, but that is up to the state, and this is still a lot more than what has been spent on housing in Budapest in the past decades."
One of the most important causes of the crisis is that only 4 percent of Hungarian apartments is community property, one of the lowest ratios in Europe, he said. In Vienna, 25 percent of flats is owned by the municipality: "That's the direction we should take, if the government ever manages to surpass its antiquated fixation," Karacsony said.
Source:
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.
*********************************
You're very welcome to comment, discuss and enjoy more stories via our Facebook page:
Facebook.com/XpatLoopNews + via XpatLoop’s groups: Budapest Expats / Expats Hungary
You can subscribe to our newsletter here: XpatLoop.com/Newsletters
Do you want your business to reach tens of thousands of potential high-value expat customers? Then just contact us here!
LATEST NEWS IN property