New home prices continue to grow in Hungary, rising by 8.8% year-on-year in the first quarter, a market survey by the Central Statistical Office (KSH) shows.
Resale home prices also continued to go up, rising by 7.9% during the period, KSH said, as cited by national news agency MTI.
KSH also published figures on purchases made by foreign nationals. They bought 7,371 homes in Hungary last year, accounting for just under 5% of total market turnover. Almost two-thirds of foreign buyers were citizens of other European Union member states.
Germans bought 1,079 homes in Hungary. About 84% of these were outside of Budapestl. Chinese nationals bought 1,058 homes, of which 91% were in Budapest. They paid, on average, a little more than HUF 41 million per apartment, well over the HUF 17 million paid by the Germans.
Romanians bought 1,012 homes in Hungary, Slovakians purchased 695 and Austrians 424.
As for prices, in mid-July the average offer price per sqm in Budapest was HUF 594,000, according to real estate database ingatlan.com, as cited by news portal index.hu. In larger provincial cities, the price was somewhat below HUF 300,000, while in smaller cities HUF 265,000. In rural areas, real estate continues to sell very cheaply, at an average HUF 111,000 per sqm.
