Over the past year, there has been a marked increase in the presence of Irish real estate investors in Budapest. We have been selling residential flats in the old Jewish quarters of Budapest and out of every 10 buyers who showed interest in the property, 5-6 were Irish. Now that is an extraordinarily high percentage for a country that is on the other side of Europe and has no historical links with Hungary. In comparison, there was only 1 Spanish investor who came to see the property.

So what could be the reason for this sudden interest in Budapest real estate among Irish people? As we were told by the investors who eventually bought one of our flats, they came from a small village near the sea and a number of people in their village have already bought property in Budapest. Not just a single flat but quite a few. In fact, our buyers have already acquired several themselves and are on the lookout for some new ones. These investors are ordinary people who want to put their money into something that is going to bring them real growth.

From our perspective here in Budapest, Irish people fly in for a couple of days and they manage to buy 2-3 pieces of property before they leave. This is very unlike Hungarian buyers who sometimes spend months looking at places and are extremely hard for a real estate agent to deal with. Once they have made up their mind, then come the issues of loans and being paid for their own property before they can buy the new one, etc. The Irish pay immediately and then they leave.

Although one of the reasons behind this sudden enthusiasm could be the availability of cheap airlines tickets, this is definitely not the major cause. The English can fly to Budapest from London and Brighton practically for pennies and yet they do not buy up property with such an incredible appetite.

The Irish themselves say that they are interested in the real estate market in Budapest because they believe that it will bring good results. This might be the case, but surely there are other places (e.g. Warsawa and Krakow in Poland, Prague in the Czech Republic, Bratislava in Slovakia, and other major cities among the new EU members) where the market is just as promising. We wonder if the Irish are also to be found on those markets in such numbers.

In any case, a mystery as it is, we warmly welcome them in Budapest and are glad that they have decided to invest here. And we say this not only from the business point of view. We truly appreciate the multiculturalism that has begun in Hungary in the past decade and believe that it will benefit the country.

Should need help in Budapest, we would be glad to assist you. We can show you our own selection of flats and can also provide inexpensive accommodation while you are here. Please email us at imre@oktat.com.