No turnaround in dwelling construction
In 2024, 13,295 new homes were built, 29% fewer than a year earlier. The number of dwellings to be built on the basis of issued construction permits and simple declarations was 20,494, 4.7% fewer than in 2023.
In Budapest, 4,607 dwellings were taken into use, 28% fewer than in 2023. The number of new dwellings also decreased in the other settlement categories compared to the previous year: by 26% in the towns of county rank, 37% in other towns and by 23% in villages.
Half of the new dwellings in Budapest were built in two districts (11th and 13th). More dwellings were taken into use in this part of the capital (2.3 thousand) than in the entire Budapest agglomeration (2.0 thousand).
With the exception of the Southern Great Plain, where growth was 12%, all regions recorded fewer new dwellings delivered than a year earlier. The decline was highest in South Transdanubia, down 41%, followed by North Hungary and Pest, down 39% and 37% respectively. In Győr-Moson-Sopron, which used to build a significant number of dwellings, 31% fewer dwellings were handed over.
The share of dwellings built by natural persons increased from 36% to 38%, while that built by enterprises decreased from 64% to 61% compared to 2023.
50% of dwellings put into use in new residential buildings are in detached houses, 44% in multi-dwelling houses and 3.4% in residential complexes. In terms of composition, this represented a decrease of 0.6 percentage points for multi-dwelling housing and an increase of about 4 percentage points for detached houses. The proportion of dwellings handed over in residential complexes fell to less than half.
The average floor area of dwellings taken into use increased by 2.5 m2 to 96.6 m2 compared to 2023.
The number of dwellings to be built under building permits and notifications was 20,494, 4.7% fewer than in the previous year. Construction sentiment fell in the larger cities, by 12% in the capital and by 5.6% in the towns of county rank. A slight increase was recorded in the other municipalities: 2.0% more housing construction was initiated in towns of non-county rank and 1.1% more in villages.
Compared to the previous year, the number of dwellings to be built increased in Western and Southern Transdanubia and in Northern Great Plain, while in the other regions it decreased. At the county level, the 4.6-fold increase in Tolna county is notable, mainly due to housing construction in Paks. In Hajdú-Bihar, the already high number of permits issued continued to grow by 32%.
Builders made use of the simple declaration option in 45% of cases. This proportion was lowest in Budapest (7.7%) and highest in the villages (86%).
Based on the new construction permits issued, a total of 8,671 residential buildings are planned, which represents a stagnation compared to the previous year (-0.7%). The proportion of planned single-dwelling residential buildings was 79%, with a total of 6,848 units.
The number of planned non-residential buildings was 3,530, 12% fewer than in 2023.
New dwelling construction permits and simple declarations, dwellings put to use and ceased
| Territorial unit | New dwelling construction permits issued (declarations) | Number of dwellings put to use | Number of dwellings ceased to exist | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| number | 2024 as a percentage of 2023 | number | 2024 as a percentage of 2023 | 2023 | 2024 | ||||
| 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | ||||||
| total | of which: simple declarations | ||||||||
| Budapest | 7 956 | 7 027 | 543 | 88.3 | 6 359 | 4 607 | 72.4 | 254 | 159 |
| Towns of county rank | 4 036 | 3 809 | 1 710 | 94.4 | 3 458 | 2 557 | 73.9 | 297 | 361 |
| Other towns | 5 244 | 5 347 | 3 278 | 102.0 | 4 953 | 3 143 | 63.5 | 586 | 627 |
| Villages | 4 265 | 4 311 | 3 703 | 101.1 | 3 877 | 2 988 | 77.1 | 482 | 470 |
| Total | 21 501 | 20 494 | 9 234 | 95.3 | 18 647 | 13 295 | 71.3 | 1 619 | 1 617 |