Hungarian real estate broker Otthon Centrum expects about 40,000 new and resale homes to be sold in Budapest in 2009, about 30pc less than in the previous year, Otthon Centrum told MTI on Wednesday.
Home prices in the capital peaked in May and June, before falling in the summer and rising again from October, Otthon Centrum said.
The market for new homes has declined dramatically since banks tightened lending and Hungary’s main VAT rate was raised in the summer. At the same time, the market for rental homes has grown considerably.
Resale homes make up more than 80pc of the sales Otthon Centrum brokers.
Analyst David Valko said propensity to buy homes could start strengthening from the second half of 2010, but it could take the market until mid-2011 to return to where it was before the crisis. The decline in lending volume could be lasting, although a slight increase is expected in 2010, he added.