Budapest’s rental market to boom this summer?!
Thanks to the ease of epidemiological restrictions and lifting of restrictive measures, Budapest’s rental market has started to recover in June. Accordingly, the demand for long-term rentals has increased significantly, as well as the property sales market has also started to revive in the Hungarian capital. Let’s see what that means in prices.
As a result of the ease of epidemiological restrictions and lifting of restrictive measures in Hungary, Budapest’s rental market has shown signs of recovery in recent months. In June, the demand for long-term apartment rentals in Budapest was outstanding compared to the previous months; as well as the trend of short-term Airbnb rentals has strengthened in the downtown of the Hungarian capital. Thus, the rental market continued to recover in June: long-term landlords could choose from several tenants and rent out their apartments sooner – reported by the Hungarian news portal 24.hu.
Even though the margin between supply and demand has narrowed further, property owners still remain cautious with raising rents based on the fact that, similarly to the previous month,
an average of EUR 406 was requested in June for an apartment for rent in Budapest.
Accordingly, supply rents are still nearly EUR 56 lower than the prices of around EUR 462 experienced last summer.
Besides the recovery of Budapest’s rental market, the property sales market also seems to revive in the Hungarian capital. According to Hungarian real estate agency Otthon Centrum, more and more people are interested in those parts of the capital that are very popular among investors. Based on the sales contracts concluded for the used brick condominium flats, the most expensive is still the 5th district (EUR 2,744/m²), which is closely followed by the 2nd district (EUR 2,513/m²), and not far behind 1st, 6th, 11th and 13th districts (EUR 2,256/m²).
While the price level in the 5th and 13th districts is still lower than a year ago, prices show a stable tendency in the districts of Buda; furthermore, the 11th district is already experiencing a rising trend. The peripheral districts of Budapest are becoming more and more prevalent, where increasing property prices can be observed compared to last year. Thus, in these districts, we can hardly find any brick-built condominium apartment for less than EUR 1,690/m².
As far as rental prices are concerned, their evolution in the forthcoming months is still in question, depending on several factors such as how many downtown apartments will return to short-term Airbnb rentals during the summer; consequently, fewer apartments will be available for long-term rentals. Another decisive factor is whether higher education in Hungary will return to the traditional attendance education from September; as a result of which, numerous foreign students will come to Hungarian capital.
In this scenario, rental prices are expected to increase further in the upcoming months.
Accordingly, students preparing for the new academic year from September should take three pieces of advice. It is highly recommended to start looking for a rental property in time in order to get one at an affordable price. Secondly, since available rooms are rented sooner, they should look for a roommate instead of a room with whom they can rent an entire apartment together. And thirdly, due to a possible 4th wave of the pandemic, it is worth setting in the contract as a force majeure that if you have to switch to online education, the lease can be terminated.
It is also important to emphasise that there may be significant price differences in Budapest within a given district. Therefore, it may be worthwhile to look around at different portals and use calculators in order to make the best decision.
Source: 24.hu; oc.hu