Apartment Rental Fees at a Low Point in Hungary

Although the January rent index by the Central Statistical Office and the Hungarian real estate website ingatlan.com fell by over 10% on an annual basis, rents in Hungary have hardly changed on a monthly basis, suggesting that they may have reached a low point.

In a statement sent to the state news agency MTI this Saturday, ingatlan.com stated that according to their latest – February – data, the rent of apartments and houses for rent in Budapest decreased by 20% year-on-year to HUF 130,000, but there was no change compared to January, these figures also suggest that the fall in prices in the capital stopped.

Looking at the rental market offer outside Budapest, it seems that there are county seats – such as Szombathely and Kecskemét – where rents have increased compared to January.

It was indicated that due to the start of cross-semester courses in higher education, the January-February period has traditionally been one of the stronger months of the year in the rental market. Because of this, it is not certain whether the changes this year are lasting or whether the decline in rents has only temporarily stopped, they added.

According to the index by the Central Statistical Office and ingatlan.com, rents in January were 12.7% lower than the national average a year earlier, but increased by 0.1% on a monthly basis, i.e. compared to December, which is essentially stagnant.

The January data also show that compared to a month earlier, rents in Pest County, Central, South and Western Transdanubia increased by 0.9-2.5 percent, according to the announcement.