On average Hungarians live more comfortably since the change of regime, but almost half of them still live in overcrowded homes. Last year building a home became more expensive than the year before, while the housing stock has not grown significantly.
One report of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office says that the price of live labor increased more rapidly than the price of building materials. This is a long time trend: since 2005 the cost of labor increased 74%, while materials only 26%.
The cost of building a house has been increasing every year since the millennium except 2010. Overall building costs have increased more than 40% in the last 10 years.
The housing stock has also increased. Since the millennium 350 new homes were built in Hungary, which is an increase of 8.6%. But natural renewal of the stock slowed down after the crisis – fewer homes were built and fewer disappeared. In Budapest the stock has grown wit 11%, 22% in other cities, while smaller towns lost around 11 percent of their stock.
In Budapest the demand is greater for flats bigger than 50 m2, while most of the homes larger than 100 m2 can be found in the suburbs or in rural towns and villages. Average size of homes was 77 m2 nationwide, with only 64 in Budapest, 76 in other cities and 88 in the countryside.
Comfort of homes has greatly improved in the last 25 years basic utilities were accessible in 93-96% of Hungarian homes in 2014. Still, almost half of the population (46%) lives in overcrowded homes.
Overcrowded housing shows strong correlation with poverty, more than 70% of poorer households are overcrowded. Also, larger families are more likely to live in overcrowded homes.
(Source: http://www.vg.hu/vallalatok/ingatlan/tulzsufolt-lakasokban-elnek-a-magyarok-453709
