Budapest

1. Budapest is home to the largest thermal water cave system in the world, with over 100 thermal springs and numerous bathhouses, making it a unique destination for spa enthusiasts seeking relaxation and wellness. 2. The city has a rich history of ruin bars, which are bars set up in abandoned buildings and lots, often featuring eclectic decor and a vibrant atmosphere. Szimpla Kert, one of the most famous ruin bars, has become a cultural hotspot and a must-visit for nightlife seekers. 3. Budapest has a unique culinary tradition known as "lángos," a deep-fried flatbread typically topped with garlic, sour cream, and cheese. While it is popular among locals, many tourists may not be familiar with this delicious street food staple that can be found at various markets and food stalls throughout the city.

Budapest’s housing market has seen significant price increases over the past year, with average pre-owned apartment prices nearing 1 million HUF per sqm (about €2,525), and new apartments in the city center averaging €3,260 per sqm. Median rent for a central 74 sqm apartment is roughly €14.20 per sqm per month, translating to about €1,050 monthly rent. Home ownership remains dominant: about 82.5% of households own their homes in Budapest, while 17.5% rent, a rate notably higher than Hungary’s national average of 9%. Rental yields for apartments in Budapest average around 5.39%, though net yields on central properties are closer to 3.5–5%. The proportion of investors has recently declined, and tighter regulations on short-term rentals like Airbnb may shift some supply back to long-term rentals. Publicly owned housing, mostly social housing, plays a marginal and shrinking role. The social rental sector has been in disrepair and now represents a very small share of the market, failing to keep pace with demand for affordable rentals. Public housing is not identical to social housing: public housing can include municipally owned units rented out at near-market rates, while social housing targets lower-income residents at subsidized rents. Recent city initiatives, such as AHA Budapest, aim to revitalize and expand social and affordable housing, but supply remains very limited. Overall, Budapest faces tightening affordability, high ownership rates, and a small, generally underfunded public housing sector.

Budapest is facing a severe housing crisis marked by escalating property and rental prices. Even substandard, unrenovated apartments now approach €2,500 per square meter, indicating strong demand and limited supply. Rents absorb a significant portion of residents’ incomes, with costs rising much faster than average wages for a substantial period. The problem is compounded by the growth of short-term rental platforms, which have reduced the availability of affordable long-term housing. The crisis affects a broad spectrum of residents. While it disproportionately impacts low-income and marginalized groups—such as the Roma population, single-parent families, and elderly people living on fixed incomes—the effects have also spread to the middle class, who are increasingly unable to secure affordable, quality housing. In some inner districts like Józsefváros, overcrowding and poor living conditions are common, with multiple people sharing very small, often poorly maintained spaces. The social and public housing sectors offer limited relief, as their share is small, many units are in disrepair, and public support has not kept pace with demand. Housing poverty, defined by inadequate or unaffordable living conditions, is now recognized as a central facet of overall poverty in Budapest, with many at risk of being trapped in substandard housing or excluded from the city’s housing market altogether.

Budapest’s current city administration is prioritizing affordable and sustainable housing through a mix of ambitious targets and innovative, if still limited, programs. Municipal goals include increasing the share of affordable rental housing and tackling energy poverty, with a vision to raise the proportion of affordable homes by 45,000–75,000 units by 2027 and approach the housing mix of cities like Vienna and Amsterdam over the longer term. This would mean significantly expanding the rental sector, which currently remains small and underfunded. Key activities include the AHA Budapest program, launched with EU support in 2024. This initiative transforms unused public buildings, such as old schools, into modern, energy-efficient social rental homes, starting with a pilot in Újpest to house twenty-six vulnerable families. The city aims to replicate this model in at least fifteen additional sites. The project also introduces a data-driven early warning system to identify households at risk of eviction or energy poverty and tests experimental support schemes, such as flat-sharing and flat exchanges, to help at-risk residents. Additional municipal efforts focus on renovating and retrofitting thousands of energy-inefficient, Soviet-era apartment blocks as part of the Green Panel Building Programme, aiming to double energy-efficient districts and reduce living costs. There are also plans for new rent-subsidy schemes for homeless households and partnerships with NGOs to convert vacant dwellings into social rentals. However, full-scale implementation relies on securing sufficient national and EU funding, which remains a major challenge.

Housing cooperatives play a notable yet declining role in Budapest’s housing landscape. Historically, the cooperative model provided affordable housing—primarily in panel apartment blocks constructed during the socialist era—ensuring self-management and cost-sharing among residents. Approximately 7% of Budapest’s housing stock, or around 281,000 apartments, remains under cooperative management. This translates to about 800,000 residents living in cooperatives, administered by nearly 1,280 active housing cooperatives in the city. The primary function of these cooperatives is the maintenance, operation, and modernization of communal residential buildings. Decision-making is democratic, with members participating in assemblies and major management choices. Cooperatives have also played a role in renovating and retrofitting older buildings, but most are now focused on maintenance rather than expansion. In recent years, the cooperative sector has seen limited new development, and its share of the overall housing market has stagnated or slightly decreased as housing policy has shifted toward other models and private homeownership has dominated. There are no significant new city initiatives or regulatory reforms specifically targeting the promotion or expansion of cooperative housing in Budapest. Instead, municipal housing policy and investment have primarily targeted social rentals and energy-efficient renovations of existing municipal stock, with housing cooperatives largely operating independently within the existing legal and policy framework.