Budapest is central Europe's most
breathtaking capital city. The River Danube, the opera houses, the
thermal baths and its stunning architecture create a magical atmosphere
for living and working. But it is not only this, that makes Budapest
attractive for the property investor.
Prices of properties are considerably lower than in comparable capital
cities (up to a fifth cheaper than in Dublin for example). Entry
into the EU in 2007 and the adoption of the Euro is likely to address
this imbalance and with the second lowest corporation tax rates
in Europe, 45 of the world's top 50 companies already have headquarters
in Budapest.
Until 1988 Hungary was firmly locked
away from the outside world within the old Iron curtain of the Soviet
block. Since the historic elections of 1990 governments have come
and gone, but the administration of the country’s capital city Budapest
remained in the hands of Gábor Demszky ensuring a continued period
of stability and growth. Of the ten new entrants to the European
Union in 2004 Hungary’s economy has proved the most dynamic and
it also has one of the highest per capita GDP’s. Many commentators
and analysts have compared the Budapest property market to that
of Ireland’s (and in particular that of Dublin) during the first
few years of the 1990’s. Early bird investors have so far made a
killing with Hungarian property in Budapest, but with all the economic
indicators looking good, there is still a lot of growth to come.
Between 2003-05 the economy has seen
a positive growth rate of 15-20% and in the Budapest property market,
rental incomes have provided minimum yields of 7% rising to around
10%. There are a number of solid reasons and indicators to suggest
that Hungary’s economy should continue to grow at current
rates. Politically Hungary is stable and its system of government
is transparent which has led to numerous Fortune 500 companies moving
all or part of their European workforce into the country.
