More and Less Expensive Properties Available at Lake Balaton

Fonyód (southern shore of Lake Balaton)

There has been a significant increase in the housing supply at Lake Balaton, with 10-20 percent more advertisements on both the north and south shores than this time a year ago. Furthermore, prices have even fallen in real terms over the past year, Világgazdaság reports, based on data from the real estate advertising portal Ingatlan.com.

“There has been a significant increase in supply at Lake Balaton, while property prices are stagnating, the first signs of which were already visible in the summer of 2022, and the trend has been getting stronger since then,” László Balogh, chief economic expert at Ingatlan.com, told Világgazdaság.

The Balaton region has been boosted by the fact that a lot of real estate developments have been launched in the last two or three years. It also increases liquidity in the region when the economic or financing situation turns bad and most people put their second home on the market instead of their primary one, typically realizing the value added on investment properties, explained Balogh.

Supply has increased by between 10-20 percent on both the north and south coasts, and prices have also fallen in real terms over the past year. On the south coast, prices have also fallen in nominal terms,

the leading expert at Ingatlan.com pointed out.

Demand on Hungary’s largest real estate advertising platform picked up from January-February compared to last year, but is not yet at the same level as in the first two months of 2022. Last year, there was a sharp drop in demand of nearly 40 percent in the first two months of the year, but this year the number of inquiries has increased by 13 percent. However, this is still nowhere near the level of two years ago.

What is noticeable on the Balaton market is that

despite the slowdown, prices in some regions are more expensive than in Budapest.

The first signs of a slowdown were already visible in the summer of 2022, and the resulting increase in supply is therefore less of a surprise, according to the expert. Balaton real estate can be part of a family’s property portfolio, and for many it was an excellent investment from 2015-2022.

Prices rocketed after 2018, with holiday homes around the lake becoming even more expensive during the COVID pandemic. It is a fortunate coincidence that

during the period of the highest price increases, owners were able to actively use their properties on Lake Balaton, with many moving there during the quarantine.

The increase in supply is explained by the fact that sellers now want to realize the return on their investment and thus obtain cheap resources. Moreover, entrepreneurs who have invested their company profits in property on Lake Balaton do not want to take out a bank loan in the changed market environment, and find cheaper financing here.

Most of the properties for sale are advertised in Siófok, with around 2,500 houses. While every second holiday home for sale on the south coast is in Siófok, the second largest market is in Keszthely (western shore of Lake Balaton), and the third largest number of holiday homes for sale is in Balatonfüred (northern shore of Lake Balaton).

Interestingly, while supply in Siófok has not increased, in Keszthely, for instance, there has been a big jump, with 737 active ads a year later, compared to 563 last year, and in Balatonfüred there are now 620 properties for sale, up from 530.

Via Világgazdaság, Featured image: Facebook/Liget Residence Fonyód