Prices of New Homes in Hungary Projected to Rise About 7% in 2008

Hungarian real estate company Otthon Centrum projects the price of new homes in Hungary will increase about 7% in 2008, level with the rate of inflation, the Budapest Business Journal reports.Nonetheless, it still sees prices of both new and resale homes doubling in ten years, analyst Dávid Valkó said at a press conference on Wednesday.About 11,200 new homes will be completed in Budapest by year-end. Demand for resale homes is expected to fall 5%-10% during the year.Prices for resale homes in brick buildings averaged Ft 269,000 per square meter in the first half of the year. The price for free-standing resale homes was Ft 197,000 per square meter.The report noted that 10% of new home loans taken out in the first half were denominated in Japanese yen.Source: Profit.bg

Housing Prices in Sofia Increase

The price of housing has increased by 21% in the first half of 2008 compared to the second half of 2007. The average price for the period is EUR 1094 per square meter, real estate agency "Address" announced. Terminal prices are seen throughout residential districts in Sofia, in which there is record increase as well as a lot of supply. These are districts like Mladost, where prices have increased by 25% for half a year, Studentski grad (Student town) - 23,46% increase and Lyulin - 21,62%. Deals are getting harder to be made - with a bigger number of views, after a longer period of decision-making and with the presence of bigger added value for the chosen property. The increased supply of apartments on the secondary market is another characteristic trend on the market in the first half of the year. A major part of the owners started to offer after the price increase, credit interest increase and the April inflation of over 14%. Thus, housing bought with investment goals that were not rented for a long time is now offered on the market. The price of rent has increased by almost 2% in the first half of the year. Tenants have paid EUR 5,25 on average per month. In April offers of new construction apartments for rent increased. As a result the supply of these apartments increased by 6% in the first quarter of the year and 15% in the second. The most desired districts for purchase of housing are Lyulin, Mladost, Druzhba and Ovcha Kupel.