Romania's accession to the Schengen zone is an important national satisfaction for Hungary.Continue reading
The announcement of the Schengen zone accession last year has already led to a surge in property prices in Hungarian settlements near the Romanian-Hungarian border, writes Krónika Online. Experts expect an increase in interest and subsequent further price increases this year.
After January 1, when the border between Romania and Hungary virtually disappeared, commuting between the two countries has become much easier, which could boost the Hungarian property market. Buyers on the Hungarian side of the border can buy much cheaper properties than in neighboring Romania, which is why there are Hungarian settlements where it is estimated that the number of inhabitants could double within two years.
Even though only two weeks have passed in the new year, the real estate market has not changed greatly, but investors have already priced-in Romania’s Schengen zone accession in the summer and autumn of last year.
As a result, real estate prices in Biharkeresztes, for instance, have risen spectacularly, pointed out Béla Tókos-Fejes, a local representative. He bought a house and moved from Oradea (Nagyvárad, Romania) to the small Hungarian town near the border in the “first wave” in 2005, before Romania joined the EU. As he explained, investors had already been convinced since last summer that the border would be opened this time, and started buying up properties for sale in the municipality of 4,846 inhabitants, with many individuals buying their second or even third houses as an investment.
Biharkeresztes is only 17.3 kilometers from Oradea, and has good infrastructure and a bus service several times a day. These factors all contribute to increasing property prices. Most of the houses for sale are so-called “Kádár-cubes,” that are a square floor plan, generally 100 square meters, mostly ground-floor, and tent-roofed family house types. They were built in Hungary from the early 1960s until the late 1970s.
Some of the houses for sale are in very poor condition, sometimes without windows, and in the wake of the price rises that have swept through since the summer, they are now asking between HUF 20-25 million (EUR 48,300-60,000). Meanwhile, a Kádár cube, in need of minimal renovation but in relatively good condition, is going for as much as HUF 30 million (EUR 72,500).
It is important to note, however, that these property prices are still much lower than in the Oradea market, where the latest analysis by real estate portal Imobiliare.ro, reflecting prices at the beginning of January, shows that the average price per square meter has reached EUR 1,635, meaning that the average price of a 100 square meter home is around EUR 163,500.
The situation is similar in Battonya, another Hungarian municipality. There, in the second half of 2006, Romanian residents started buying up properties, after Romania became a member of the European Union on January 1, 2007, making it easier to cross the border between the two countries. Several settlements in Eastern Hungary have been bought by people from Arad and the Arad region, but the main advantage of Battonya, 26 kilometers from Arad, is that a permanent border crossing point has been in operation between Tornya (Turnu) and Battonya since 1995. Furthermore, the small town boasts a thermal-water beach, and relatively good public services.
“There are currently 800-850 families who have resettled from Romania living in Battonya, most of whom still go to Arad to work,” István Fifa, a real estate agent in Battonya, told Krónika Online. According to Árpád Mákos, mayor of Battonya,
they noticed a new surge in demand for real estate from Romanians about a year ago, around the time when the first optimistic statements appeared that Romania would probably join the Schengen agreement during Hungary’s EU presidency.
The Schengen accession has not only brought interest, but also an increase in prices. According to István Fifa, prices have increased by 25 percent “on the news of Schengen,” and he estimated that by the end of the year the increase could be as high as 50 percent.
Romanian interest in the Hungarian property market is not a new phenomenon. Hungary Today already wrote in 2023, that due to the lower prices in Hungarian settlements near the border, many Romanians were choosing to buy property in Hungary. As Romanian news channel Digi24 reported, in Romania, a two-room, 60 square meter apartment had already cost almost EUR 100,000 in 2023, while in Hungary, prices for houses started from EUR 10,000.
Via Krónika Online, Featured photo via Pixabay
