2016 was the year of a positive U-turn on Hungary’s housing market, Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga said at the property market conference organized by business and news weekly Figyelő. Thanks to the Government policy focusing on the wellbeing of families and the Hungarian economy, this year’s prospects are also positive, he added.
The Hungarian economy has seen dynamic output growth in recent years, and our employment growth indicators are among the best in Europe, Minister Varga said.
The unemployment rate has fallen to 4.4 percent, and the number of people in employment rose by some 700 thousand since 2010. Wages have also risen steadily, and in the first month of the year wages in real terms increased by 10 percent year-on-year, thanks partly to the six-year wage deal brokered in November 2016, he pointed out.
These factors have reignited housing growth, Mihály Varga stated. In 2016, the number of building permits was two-and-a-half times higher than in the previous year.
At the beginning of 2017, construction sector output skyrocketed, and the 212 percent increase in the volume of new construction sector contracts justifies optimism, he noted.
(Ministry for National Economy)
