The housing market has shown a marked upswing nationwide, largely driven by the Otthon Start (Home Start) program that provides subsidized housing loans for first-time buyers starting in September, Világgazdaság reports, citing a recent press release by Ingatlan.com, a real estate advertising website.
László Balogh, chief economic expert at Ingatlan.com, emphasized: “The selling time is something that people planning to move should keep in mind. They need to calculate how long it will take to sell their existing home before committing to the next one. Rushing into a purchase agreement with an unrealistic payment deadline could lead to losing the deposit if the buyer cannot pay on time. That said, sellers are currently in a favorable position, as trends show that average time on market is decreasing.”
In Budapest, homes sold between July and September spent an average of 62 days on the market, a 23-day decrease compared to the same period last year.
Panel apartments were the quickest to sell, taking 56 days on average — not far off from last year’s 59 days. Brick-built apartments in the capital sold within 66 days this year — roughly a month faster than in the same period of 2024. Meanwhile, family houses, semi-detached, and terraced homes sold in an average of 124 days, down by 31 days year-on-year.
A similar pattern emerged in county seats and cities with county rights. Panel flats in these areas sold in an average of 63 days, 20 days faster than a year ago. Brick-built apartments sold within 92 days- a 36-day improvement.
However, the situation was different for houses in these larger cities: their average selling time increased by 23 days, rising to 174 days.
This contrast between apartments and houses, according to Ingatlan.com’s expert, reflects the fact that in recent weeks, sellers have been able to close deals more quickly on properties favored by first-time buyers — particularly panel apartments.
At the same time, longer selling times do not necessarily indicate a slowdown. The recent uptick may be the result of long-listed properties finally selling, which temporarily raises the average. In smaller towns and villages, a similar increase in selling time has been observed. For residential properties (apartments and houses), the average time to sell was 220 days in villages and 182 days in small towns — representing an increase of 15 and 42 days, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Balogh partly attributes this to the fact that even in smaller settlements, older listings are finally being sold.
These areas are somewhat lagging behind the larger cities, because earlier this year, investor activity had already cleared out much of the long-stagnant supply in the bigger urban markets,”
he noted.
Among homes listed this year and sold between July and September, the average time on the market was 67 days. Those listed back in 2024 but sold in the same period took 71 days on average to sell.
In general, buyers are now more interested in condominiums, as these can be sold more quickly. This phenomenon is not surprising, as homebuyers moving with the help of the 3% fixed-interest loan, offered by the Otthon Start program, typically choose these properties as their first home, said the real estate expert, assessing market trends.
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Via Világgazdaság, Featured image: Pexels
