The number of transactions on the Hungarian housing market totalled 128,386 last year, down by about 5% compared to 2015. This, however, is not a sign of a weak market, as it rather reflects an upturn in the sector for new homes. Buyers have been signing a huge number of pre-contracts directly with the developers and that will appear in the statistics only when the properties are taken into use, i.e. in about one or two years.

In H1 2016, a total of 3,350 apartments in 47 new residential schemes were completed in Prague. For the second half of the year, another 3,200 units are estimated to be completed in the Czech capital. In total, JLL expects 6,500 units to be completed in Prague, which is the highest figure since the real estate crisis in 2009. 

Central and Eastern European housing markets are over the crisis and prices have once again begun to rise. The general upswing, observed on European housing markets, is supported by a number of factors. Following the economic crisis, GDP has begun to grow once again in most countries and the interest environment is also favourable to borrowing. These both contribute to a recovery in housing market demand, which may then materialise in higher prices. In the case of housing markets in the Central and Eastern European region, significant differences in price dynamics may be observed. Hungary stands out from the field, where a highly significant price rise has been observed in the past two years with the prices of second-hand homes having grown by 29 percent. We take a look at Central and Eastern European housing markets.

The supply of new apartments in Budapest has increased significantly, 2.5 times, between February and March of 2016, but only a few can move in as the number of apartments with an occupancy permit is limited. The first wave of increase will hit the market in the second half of 2017. The still tight supply and large demand has pushed prices upward; the increase in price per square meter has exceeded 5%, as shown by the analysis of the Budapest Housing Market Report.