Is the housing market on the brink of collapse in Hungary? Everything points in one direction

Starting from the second half of this year, a slowdown can be felt more and more in the housing market, but based on the time of sale, there are still hits. Apartments with a smaller floor area - whether panel or brick-built - in Budapest and the cities under county law sell quickly, within 1-2 months. In Budapest, panel apartments are sold in 45 days in the month and a half that have passed since October. It takes 115 days for terraced, semi-detached and single-family houses, and brick apartments are handed over to the new owner after 82 days. In large rural cities, panels are also at the forefront, with a sales time of 59 days. Brick apartments there need almost three months and houses 130 days to find a buyer. Houses for sale in the villages can be sold in an average of 117 days. In light of the slowdown, owners are already pricing properties for sale differently, because the prices of apartments and houses for sale have been stagnant since September.

Uncertainty can also be felt in the housing market, which can be partly explained by the slowing economic growth, high inflation and the increase in household expenses. Thus, the purchasing power also decreased, which restrains the dynamics of the housing market. At the same time, in order to avoid a serious stagnation, it is necessary for the sellers to adapt to the situation with their pricing. And this can be measured by the development of the sales time, from his recent analysis, which examined how long it took for residential properties in different settlements - Budapest, county towns and villages - to find owners in the month and a half after the fourth quarter, i.e. from October to mid-November

The studios will be gone soon. It is clear from the development of the sales time that panel and brick studio apartments with a smaller floor area of less than 40 square meters sell very quickly in Budapest and in the big cities as well. On the one hand, due to the floor space, they can be said to be cheap. They are also the most attractive for investment buyers. According to the company's data, in the period since October, panel apartments in Budapest were sold in an average of 45 days, with those under 40 square meters spending only 36 days on the market. It takes twice as long to sell the 40-79 square meter flats in the capital, but even so, buyers came in less than 70 days. The sales period for brick-built studio apartments in Budapest is 51 days, and 40-79 square meters for 74 days, i.e. two and a half months. Terraced, semi-detached and detached houses in Budapest already needed more than 100 days to sell.

Results similar to those in Budapest can be seen in the county seats: the panels were sold the fastest, in 59 days, the average for brick-built apartments is 89 days. Of the former, those below 40 square meters were on the market for 49 days, and of the latter, the studios were on the market for 63 days. At the same time, the owners waited 114 days to sell the houses in the towns with county rights. It took 117 days to sell the houses in the villages.

Many people used to get stuck. The real estate market expert said that the owners are increasingly realizing the importance of realistic pricing in the sales process. The latest data shows that the owners entering the market really want to sell the property within the foreseeable future. They can achieve this mostly by not overpricing to the extent that it was customary in recent years. As a reaction to falling demand, prices have stagnated in most places since September.