Record Pace City Home Sales in the First Quarter

Residential property sales in Budapest, the county seats and county-level cities were significantly shortened in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest analysis by the property website ingatlan.com.

According to the summary sent to MTI, the extremely buoyant demand is shown by the fact that owners of residential property in Budapest found a buyer in an average of 64 days in the first three months of the year, compared to 110 days a year earlier.

Almost all types of dwellings were in demand during this period. For detached houses in the capital, the selling time fell to 133 days from 168 days previously. Brick-built apartments found a buyer in 68 days, compared to more than 100 days in the first three months of last year. The drop was sharp for the capital's panels, which sold in 31 days in the first quarter compared to 91 days last year, a third of the time it took to sell.

In the county seats and county-level cities, it took 106 days for residential properties to sell, down 23 days year-on-year. For detached houses, there was a minimal change, with a reduction in the time to sell to 182 days from 186 days. In metropolitan areas, owners were able to sell their homes in 90 days, compared to 118 days at the beginning of last year. The time to sell for flats in county towns fell to 61 days, down from 101 days last year.

However, the time to sell in towns and cities increased year-on-year. In the smallest municipalities it took 222 days to sell a residential property, up from 178 days, and in cities it took 184 days to sell a residential property, up from 160 days.

According to László Balogh, chief economist at ingatlan.com, smaller settlements need more time to get an accurate picture of the housing market dynamics. The decreasing selling time in big cities also suggests that while in the past, buyers could choose from the longer supply on the market, this year, they had to decide quickly. In the most popular locations and types of housing, there has been strong competition between prospective buyers, resulting in higher prices.