April Slump in the Hungarian Housing Market

The Easter and spring break period caused a temporary decline in the Hungarian real estate market, with 6,787 residential properties changing hands in April, which is a thousand less than in the previous month, the real estate broker firm Duna House Group told MTI on Wednesday.

According to Duna House's estimates based on its own data, this year's April figure shows a 37% drop nationwide compared to last April, and also indicates a 13% weaker performance compared to March, this year's strongest month.

Experts say this is not an unusual phenomenon, that it is a temporary decline, and that the real estate brokerage expects to see a rebound in May.

According to their analysis, there is a further recovery in the mortgage market, with the group's international financial brand Credipass estimating a volume of HUF 42 billion for April, based on its domestic data. This represents an increase of 6% compared to the previous month's estimate, but a significant decrease of 71% compared to the previous April's central bank data.

They said that, like in case of the housing market, experts forecast increased activity in the mortgage market in the second quarter.