Are there any cities in Hungary except Budapest? Definitely. If you name at least one of them and you are not a resident of the neighboring countries – congratulations. You may feel whatever you want about the Hungary or take it as the unlucky Austria’s sister or the former Soviet satellite, but to understand this country you have to visit it, listen to friends and relatives impressions or watch at least a few documentaries and feature films.
There is Germany – where we want to go because of stability (and many of us studied German at school), England – because it is prestigious (and gray, strictly and stiffly), Spain – because of the heat (and no one works), Bulgaria – because it is cheap and close (Cyrillic adds + to its karma). And what about the Hungary? No association? That's why you first need to learn it well, love it, and then make an informed choice in favor of the real estate purchase. And if the local lifestyle by no means sinks into your heart, you may simply buy an apartment in Budapest and lease it – most likely you won’t regret.

If Eurostat or anyone else have made a valid countries top list not just by real estate prices change, but in accordance with real average square meter cost, Hungary is likely to be at the bottom, among "cheap" half of the 28 countries. Higher than Bulgaria is, but somewhere at the Baltic level: the capital Budapest is for €1,000-1,500 per sq. m. just like Tallinn is, and everything else is up to €1,000 or near, just like the Lithuanian province.
Real estate in east of the Hungary is cheaper and more expensive – in the west. You can find out why this is so, look at the map, we carefully placed in front of this paragraph. In the east it borders with Ukraine (former USSR), and since the times of the Hungarian People's Republic or even earlier, there prevails as we would say today, a simpler and less pretentious population. West is a different matter as "bourgeois" Vienna is near, so housing is more expensive.

All roads lead buyers to Budapest
Let’s have a look at the figures: how many forints are needed to afford living in Hungary? Let's start with Budapest – the first city in continental Europe that could afford a subway (it was in 1896 and only 35 years had passed in Russia since the serfdom has been canceled but in Budapest people already were rolling at the Underground Railroad). Apartments in Budapest are obscenely expensive compared to other cities, and price per meter cost is as follows: €700 in panel houses in Buda and €550 in Pest; €1,050 in brick house in Buda and €660 in Pest. We should clarify that Buda is more expensive, prestigious and small: no plants and highway junctions, but only forest parks and fresh air.
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"Prices in Budapest: statistics and reality really differ"
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But it’s too early to be excited by the statistics: realtors say it’s not easy to buy an apartment in Budapest cheaper than for €1,000 per sq. m. Otherwise it will not be the best apartment and not in the best area. And the statistics as you know can easily be "made" by bad proposals, if they are a lot.

Budapest
Property abroad the Hungarian ringway: promising resorts and poorest province
Gone away from Budapest. Apartment in the panel house in eastern Hungary can be purchased for €400 per sq. m. and in the west – for €420. But if increase appetites and wipe at the brick housing, the apartments in the east cost €450 per sq. m. and in the west – €550. All this is, of course, very similar to the situation in the provincial markets of Estonia or Bulgaria.
Real estate in Hungary is cheap, but do you need it outside the Budapest? One million and 750,000 people live in the capital, in Debrecen that is the second largest city live 210,000 people. It is not three times difference – as between Moscow and St. Petersburg, but eight times at once. In practice this means that a foreigner has nothing to do outside the Budapest in Hungary! Well, maybe except the resorts and they exist in Hungary, I’ll say!

The thermal Heviz Lake
For example, there is a resort town Hévíz (at the same place is thermal lake with the same name – the year-round source of income for local shops and bars), as well as settlements located around the largest in Central Europe, Lake Balaton. Hévíz is also located close to the Lake Balaton, and prices there have already surpassed ones in Budapest. Apartment in Heviz may cost around €2,000 per sq. m., when it comes to the center of this small town.
Residence permit in Hungary with real estate purchase: no and will never be
Property in Budapest may be purchased for living or leasing to students and spa visitors, home in Hévíz and Balaton Lake may be acquired to be offered to summer visitors. "Foreign" real estate market in Hungary is in fact limited by these regions.
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"The residence permit in Hungary is not for all property owners, but only for the wealthy ones"
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But even for those purchases you won’t get Hungarian residence permit. The country does not give it for real estate owning. But there is a residence permit for the wealthy customers: purchase a real estate (not a hut, of course, but a flat with a proper status), demonstrate your high income and you’ll get a residence permit in Hungary and may travel around the European Union as much as you want (Hungary is a member of the Schengen zone). Russians use this possibility. The Chinese, the Ukrainians and even the Spaniards are active buyers at Hungarian real estate market.

Village at the Balaton Lake
Property prices in Hungary : Is a crisis point close?
Property prices in Hungary are falling, but they fall even more and more slowly. The latest report from Eurostat tells us that the annual decline in Q1 2013 was 6.2%, Q2 – 2.8%, Q3 – 1.8%, Q4 – 1.6%. The country enters step by step to a stabilization phase, followed, as it is hoped, by good steady growth.
Text: Alexander Fetyukov, ee24.com