In the current housing market, used studio apartments smaller than 45 square meters are at the center of attention for first-time homebuyers. According to property site Ingatlan.com, the average price of these apartments is HUF 55 million in Budapest and HUF 45 million in Debrecen. The company shared this data with Hungarian news agency MTI on Wednesday, in response to news that a new support program may soon be launched for young people planning to purchase their first home.
They recalled that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán recently announced that first-time buyers could receive government assistance, and a decision on the matter may have already been made at the latest cabinet meeting. The new support scheme is expected to be announced in the coming days.
Ingatlan.com analyzed current listings targeting first-time buyers, as well as the types of homes purchased by 18–35-year-olds in recent years.
László Balogh, chief economist at Ingatlan.com, emphasized in the statement that due to the price increases of the past decade, the value of property owners’ assets has more than tripled. However, the situation for young people trying to enter the housing market has worsened: they now need to pay significantly more for their first home, without being able to finance it by selling an existing property. That’s why a support program for first-time buyers is timely and necessary.
Citing data from the Central Statistical Office (KSH), Balogh said that over the past few years, 18–35-year-olds have made up nearly 30% of all homebuyers. In Budapest and county seats, they mostly purchased used apartments in condominiums and panel buildings. In smaller towns and villages, used family houses made up the majority of young buyers’ purchases.
In smaller settlements, lower property prices make larger homes more accessible for young people. In contrast, the biggest challenge in larger cities is the steadily rising cost of housing. Unsurprisingly, young buyers are overrepresented among panel apartment purchases, as these are about 25% cheaper than similarly sized brick-built apartments in cities.
Affordability challenges in big cities force first-time buyers to compromise—most often by choosing smaller studio apartments to save on costs.
Based on its own data, Ingatlan.com reported that in June, the average price of used condominiums under 45 square meters in Budapest was HUF 55 million. Brick-built units averaged HUF 56 million, while panel flats were priced at around HUF 50 million. The cheapest studio apartments can be found in Budapest’s Districts XXIII, XX, and XXI, where average prices were HUF 32 million, HUF 38 million, and HUF 39 million, respectively. On the other end of the spectrum, District II had the highest average price at HUF 73 million.
Among county seats and university cities, average prices for used studios were HUF 45 million in Debrecen, HUF 43 million in both Győr and Eger, and HUF 40 million in Szeged and Székesfehérvár. The most affordable county seats were Salgótarján and Békéscsaba, where used condominiums under 45 square meters averaged between HUF 14 million and HUF 21 million.
