Prices of rentals have been increasing more and more rapidly in past months in the Hungarian capital: in December 2014 the growth was around 20%, but during the past half year most of the rental prices increased by 20-30% or more. Especially the prices of studio flats in the city center might increase by even 40-50%.
Now it is virtually impossible to find a rental in Budapest for which the tenants have to pay as much as a few years ago. This is especially true in the inner districts where flats are rented in days despite being so expensive. But the huge demand is not the only factor.
Low base rates accelerate the trend further – as more investors get favorable loans they buy flats to rent them. Also those who suffered less because of the crisis are now in a better position to buy their own estates, narrowing the market and thus increasing the prices as supply in the market grows smaller.
But experts say one of the greatest problems is the popularity of the online social rental sites, mainly Airbnb which exploded in the Hungarian market since the beginning of the year.
This popularity is not accidental: in downtown Pest flats can be rented for 10-20 thousand forints a night, which is much higher than what landlords can get from renting it on the long term. In most cases if they can rent their estates for tourists 1-2 weeks a month they can get more out from it if they signed a long term rental contract, even when they can calculate with prices much higher than 6-12 months ago.
The trend also led to the appearance of Airbnb-enterpreneurs who rent apartments and then put them on Airbnb, earning much more than the basic rent.
Cheap rents therefore are rapidly disappearing from the market and people with lower income are forced out of the inner capital.
(Source: http://444.hu/2015/08/08/alberlet/)
