The Lake Balaton property market has hit a twenty-year low, index.hu reports via a subscription only article at napi.hu. Despite signs this spring that the market was headed for recovery, this turned out to be a false hope, with the Greek crisis only compounding things.
Although last year looked to be bad at the outset, as a result of some owners dropping their asking prices the market regained a little life, although this year price drops and even the weakening forint appear to be unable to help things move along, said Tamás Maróthy, the director of agency balatoniingatlan.com.
The only two areas seeing any movement are properties close to the lake going for max Ft 15 million (€52,000) or those going for Ft 30-40 million (€100,000-€140,000) that can be lived in all year long. The cheapest properties with buildings on them currently go for Ft 8 million (€28,000).
The only part of the Lake Balaton region where the market is not stalled is Hévíz, where Russians paying with cash have snapped up property. Béla Békési, the president of the Hungarian Realtors and Appraisers Association said only those willing to drop their asking price of 20-30% stand a chance to sell anything. In contrast to this piece, our article back in May almost seems optimistic.
“Russians buying up Héviz” is maybe a bit over the top, but it’s true, you see more of them – even cars with Russion, Bjelorussian or Ukrainian licence plates.
Also more menues are in Russian – at least in the city proper …
As far as I can tell they behave alright here – contrast that with Russians on the Turkish riviera where nobody else will go into a hotel with Russians, zhey behave like pigs there. It’s probably a different level of culture and money.
I don’t mind them in Héviz, it keeps businesses going all year round – that’s one of the main advantages of Heviz …