While house prices in Budapest rose 14.1% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2019, they fell 2.0% in nominal terms on a quarterly basis, the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) reported. The central bank has not recorded a q-o-q drop in house prices since Q4 2013.
The annual growth rate of house prices in Budapest in nominal terms slowed to 14.1% in Q4 2019 from 21.5% in Q3. However, there was a 2.0% nominal decrease in house prices in Budapest on a quarterly basis, which has not occurred since Q4 2013.
In rural cities, house prices fell in most regions in Hungary relative to the previous quarter. The annual nominal growth in house prices slowed by 3.4 percentage points q-o-q to 18.5% in Q4. On a quarterly basis, house prices declined in rural cities, although much more moderately than in the capital, by 0.4%. In municipalities, house prices rose in both annual and quarterly terms.
On a quarterly basis, house prices fell in most regions in Hungary. In annual terms, there was a double-digit price growth in all regions, but the growth dynamics dropped relative to the previous quarter. The most pronounced increases in prices were recorded in Central Transdanubia, Northern Hungary and the Northern Great Plains in nominal terms. In these regions, price increases remained above 20% relative to 2018 Q4. House prices rose by 19.7%, 16.8%, 15.0% and 13.1% in annual terms in the Southern Great Plains, Southern Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia and Pest, respectively.
The aggregated MNB House Price Index, indicating changes in house prices in Hungary, nearly stagnated in 2019 Q4 in nominal terms. By contrast, the annual growth rate in nominal terms slowed to 16.2% from 17.9% in Q3. In real terms, the annual growth rate of house prices in Hungary was 12.4%; however, there was a decline of 0.6% on a quarterly basis in the period under review.
