Hungary

General economic overview

In 2019, Hungary’s GDP rose by 4.9% compared to the previous year. Gross value added increased by 21% in construction, by 5% in industry, by 4.2% in services and decreased by 0.3% in agriculture.

Services contributed to GDP growth by 2.3%, industry and construction by 1% each. Final consumption contributed by 2.8% and gross capital formation by 2.6%. The trade balance contributed negatively slowing down GDP growth by 0.4%.

In 2019, reaching a record high, the volume of investment grew by 14%. Within this category, the volume of construction investment increased by 16%. Investment in machinery and equipment increased by 11%.

In 2019, the total number of employees amounted to 4.5 million, 43,000 above the level in 2018.

Overall construction activity

In 2019, construction output grew by 21.7% compared to 2018. Construction output prices increased by 9.7%.

The construction of buildings grew by 20.2% and civil engineering by 23.9%.

At the end of December 2019, the volume of construction contracts was 10.5% lower than at the end of December 2018. The number of contracts increased by 38.9% for the construction of buildings but fell by 20.7% in civil engineering.

Housebuilding

In 2019, 21,127 new dwellings were built, an increase of 20% compared to the previous year. The number of houses to be built decreased by 4.3% to 35,123.

In 2019, nearly half of new houses (49%) were put to use in Budapest and Pest county. 33% of homes were put to use in the large region of Transdanubia and 18% in the large regions of Great Plain and Northern Hungary.

In 2019, 5,838 homes were put into use in Budapest, 51% more than in 2018. Except for smaller towns, where growth amounted only to 3.6%, the number of new houses built doubled.

The share of dwellings built by private individuals fell from 46% to 41%, while the share of companies increased from 53% to 57% compared to 2018.

The average floor area of houses put to use decreased by 2.7 m² to 96.6 m² compared to 2018.

The number of dwellings to be built was 35,123, 4.3% less than in 2018. 55% of new dwellings are planned to be built in Budapest and Pest county. Nationwide, the share of simple declarations within all permits was 46%.