New-Build Properties Increasingly Popular

Despite the high and gradually rising prices, the share of new apartments and houses among real estate transactions nationwide rose to 7% in the first two months of the year, up from 5% in the same period of 2024, the real estate brokerage group Duna House said on Friday, based on its own data.

According to the group, their clients in prestigious university towns, in the county seats and their surrounding areas, Vas and Zala counties along the western border, and Pest county, which includes the capital's agglomeration, bought new-build property at an even higher rate of 10-15%.

Across the country, families exchanging their old home for a larger property accounted for a high share of 32% of new home buyers, while investors and first-time buyers were equally represented at 20-20%.

However, the motivation of those choosing to buy a new build property varies by area. Transactions completed in the Western counties showed that investors were more likely to buy, while in Pest county, first-time buyers and families moving to a larger property chose new-build homes in 52% of cases.

According to the release, demand in the real estate market is breaking records, with the Duna House demand index last showing such strong values in the first two months of 2022. The real estate brokerage said it expects sustained interest and increasing transaction numbers in both the second-hand and new property markets for the rest of the year.