Housing Market Continues to Boom on the Shores of Lake Balaton

Hungary Today 2023.11.07.

The new-build housing market on the shores of Lake Balaton is booming, with Siófok (southern shore) as the favorite of new home buyers, based on a survey by Otthon Centrum. As Világgazdaság reports, the prices of projects on the lakeside are typically similar to those in the capital, and in some places even higher.

The new housing market continues to boom on the shores of Lake Balaton, Gábor Soóki-Tóth, Head of Analysis at Otthon Centrum, summarized the real estate market trends in the most popular Hungarian holiday home area.

The expert said that

under 72 projects on the lakeshore, approximately 3,000 homes are being built, of which about half are still available for purchase, and the average price per square meter is HUF 1.8 million (EUR 4,753).

Siófok. Photo via Facebook/Hotel Lidó Siófok

The number of projects started is 10 percent higher than last year, however the number of apartments has fallen by three percent, showing that developers have opted for projects with a smaller number of apartments. The average price level follows a similar trend to most of the capital’s districts, with the years-long increase first stopping and then declining.

Currently, new housing on Lake Balaton is 3.2 percent cheaper than a year ago.

Most of the projects, 22 in total, are in Siófok, nine in Balatonlelle (southern shore) and seven in Keszthely (western shore). Meanwhile, in Balatonfüred (northern shore), the second largest town near the lake, only four construction projects were registered.

Siófok is also the leader in terms of dwellings, with 800 properties under construction, Keszthely is second with 490, and Balatonszemes (southern shore) third with 350.

The concentration of projects on Lake Balaton remains high, with new investments underway in half of the lakeside municipalities (18), typically in the larger towns. The larger number of projects are mainly concentrated on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, between the railway line and the waterfront, with only a few exceptions on the northern shore, noted Gábor Soóki-Tóth.

Badacsontomaj. Photo via Facebook/Valter Viktor

Prices vary widely, with the difference between the cheapest and the most expensive projects being more than three times higher, with the average price per square meter being HUF 1.8 million (EUR 4,753). The cheapest project on Lake Balaton is an investment in Siófok for HUF 850,000 (EUR 2,2445) per square meter, while the most expensive is in Balatonakarattya (eastern shore) for HUF 3.1 million (EUR 8,186).

There is a large price difference between the settlements, with the average unit price ranging between HUF 1.2 and 3.1 million: the most expensive is Balatonakarattya at HUF 3.1 million (EUR 8,186), followed by Zamárdi (southern shore), and Alsóörs (northern shore) at HUF 2.16 million (EUR 5,704).

Houses under construction in Fonyód. Photo via Facebook/Liget Residence Fonyód

In the settlements further away from the capital, the average price decreases: the most affordable settlement is Badacsonytomaj (northern shore) for HUF 1.21 million (EUR 3,195), followed by Balatonmáriafürdő (southwestern shore) for HUF 1.27 million (EUR 3,354), while the third cheapest is Balatonlelle for HUF 1.39 million (EUR 3,671).

Fact

In addition, it should also be noted that the booming housing market is partly due to foreigners. Germans, Slovaks, and Chinese in particular have never bought as much property as this year. Final figures show that the housing market fell by 14% last year, however, foreigners bought more residential property in Hungary. 8,000 homes were bought by foreigners, 10 percent more than the record set in 2018, before the COVID epidemic.

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Via Világgazdaság, Featured image via Facebook/LikeBalaton