ARTICLE

Fly To Buy in Hungary

Hungary still celebrates its Magyar traditions, but has embraced Western European culture and boasts a thriving arts and music scene. Its capital Budapest is a World Heritage city full of beautiful architecture and rich in history. Away from the cities, rustic villages, lakes and Baroque towns offer property owners such as our Fly To Buy brothers Jim and Chris Thompson genuine diversity on their doorstep.

Fly To Buy in Hungary

Tips for buying

  • It can be difficult to find an English-speaking estate agent and a lot of those selling in the Lake Balaton area are based in Budapest, which is not ideal. However, once found, your estate agent will be able to help you find a lawyer, oversee your house purchase and guide you through all the legalities.
    To buy real estate as an individual, you must apply to the local council for permission, with the assistance of a solicitor. This is usually granted within three months and costs 250 euros, about £168. Alternatively, form a Hungarian company, which is quicker. You need to put in around 12,000 euros (£8,000) upfront which goes towards the property price.
    Be careful that the house you want is not on land that is off limits to foreigners.
    If you are buying a plot of land rather than property, you have to commit to build on it within four years. However, this means that you don't have to pay property tax so you could buy a plot of land, hang onto it for three years and sell it on and the person who buys it from you would pay the tax.
    Another common approach in Hungary is to buy an old dilapidated house on a plot of land and raze it to the ground. This means having paid the tax on the property when you bought it you are under no obligation to rebuild on the land.

Why Hungary?
Since Hungary joined the EU in 2004, the market has really started to move. Property is still fairly cheap, but the real estate market offers significant capital appreciation.

Many major multi-nationals such as Coca Cola, Guiness, IBM and Microsoft have all moved part of their European operations to Budapest, which is helping to boost a fairly robust property market.

Where to buy:
Foreign property investment focuses almost entirely on Budapest, with the 5th, 6th, 7th, 11th and 13th districts being the most desirable. Straddling the Danube, it's a beautiful city with leafy French-style avenues, parks, mineral spas and a buzzing café culture - and it is also one of the sunniest cities in Europe. There is a market all year round.

However, with a new airport just completed at Lake Balaton, this property market looks set to pick up too. Already the domain of German and Austrian holiday homes, the resort-lined lake is the largest in central Europe and the area also boasts plenty of restaurants, vineyards and historic countryside.

Pécs, an historic town in the south of the country full of museums and intriguing Turkish monuments, has also got potential for property investors looking beyond the capital.

Related sections: Fly To Buy

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