Hungary's House Price Boom: What Buyers Pay in 2026

The steepest price growth in 25 years

The MNB's May 2026 Housing Market Report puts nominal house price growth at 23.5% for 2025, with real, inflation-adjusted appreciation of 19% - the highest in a quarter of a century. The central bank also estimates that prices ended 2025 around 22.5% above the level economic fundamentals would justify, a gap that widened by almost 9 percentage points over the year.

Turnover held up in 2025 at roughly 152,000 transactions, up 3% on 2024, though the MNB notes activity cooled sharply in early 2026, with first-quarter transactions down 18% year on year.

What homes actually cost

KSH data for 2025 shows the average second-hand home nationally sold for HUF 41.6 million, up about 17% in a year, while the average new home cost HUF 81.3 million. Budapest is far dearer: HUF 67.8 million for the average second-hand purchase, and roughly HUF 1.19 million per square metre second-hand or HUF 1.63 million for new builds.

• National second-hand average, 2025: HUF 41.6m, up c. 17% year on year (KSH)
• National new-build average, 2025: HUF 81.3m, up c. 15% (KSH)
• Budapest second-hand average, 2025: HUF 67.8m, up c. 20% (KSH)
• Budapest per sqm, 2025: c. HUF 1.19m second-hand, c. HUF 1.63m new build (KSH)

What is driving it: cheap subsidised credit

The single biggest driver is the government's Home Start programme of subsidised fixed-rate loans for first-time buyers. By March 2026 some 33,200 loan contracts worth about HUF 1,161 billion had been signed, and subsidised loans jumped from 23% to 81% of new housing lending by the first quarter of 2026, MNB data shows. In Budapest, first-time buyers went from a quarter of purchases to 40% within a year.

Supply is responding, slowly: about 12,000 new homes were completed in 2025, down 8% on the year, but the MNB expects roughly 15,700 completions in 2026 and building permits rose 37% nationally in 2025.

The bill when you buy

Hungary's purchase costs are moderate by European standards. The transfer tax is 4% of market value up to HUF 1 billion and 2% above that, capped at HUF 200 million per property, according to PwC's Hungary tax summary (December 2025). The process is lawyer-driven: a Hungarian attorney drafts and countersigns the contract and registers the transfer at the land registry, with legal fees commonly around 1% of the price plus VAT, and non-EU buyers also pay a HUF 65,000 acquisition-permit fee, according to Helpers Hungary.

• Transfer tax: 4%, then 2% above HUF 1 billion, capped at HUF 200m - reliefs exist for some first-time buyers and new builds
• Legal fees: commonly around 1% of the price plus VAT
• Estate agent success fees: typically 0.5-1.5% on residential deals
• Non-EU acquisition permit: HUF 65,000 per property

What it means for buyers in 2026

A market growing this fast cuts both ways. Waiting has been expensive, but the MNB's own overvaluation estimate and the 18% drop in early-2026 transactions suggest the pace may not last, and subsidised-credit booms tend to flatter prices most at the affordable end where the loans bite. On the way out, capital gains on personal sales are taxed at 15%, with the taxable share tapering to zero once you have owned the property for five years.

Figures date quickly in a market like this, so check the latest KSH and MNB releases, and judge any asking price against current local averages rather than last year's. Habio's Hungary listings and buyer guides can help you benchmark.