Hungaryʼs market for new homes could boom next year, with new home sales potentially reaching 20-25,000 by 2019, Dávid Valkó, chief analyst at OTP Mortgage Bank, said at a press conference yesterday, according to Hungarian news agency MTI.

Last year, 7,600 new homes were built in Hungary, and this year more than 10,000 could be completed, Valkó said. Including resale homes, sales could reach 150,000 this year and stabilize around an annual 170,000-190,000 in the mid-term, level with sales before the global economic crisis. 

In January-August, 6,800 homes in 210 blocks of flats were offered for sale in the capital, and investors have announced plans to build a further 7,500 homes in 40 projects.

In January-July, 2,800 new homes were sold in Budapest, several times the number sold in the years since the crisis. New home sales were also up in other major cities around the country. Sales could climb for 2-3 years and annual price growth could remain in the double digits, Valkó said.

Tibor Földi, CEO of residential property developer Cordia, said 40-50% of new homes are being bought as investments at present. However, about 80% of the 100,000 people who plan to buy homes in big cities in the coming five years will live in them, he added.

Source: BBJ