Budapest still has buyers. But for some vendors, the price they expect and the price buyers are prepared to pay are increasingly two different numbers.
Duna House data from the first half of 2026 shows how costly getting the starting price wrong can be. Budapest apartments launched at a realistic price sold in 44 days, while properties that started too high and later required an asking-price reduction took 125 days.
“There is usually a buyer for a property at the right price. The problem starts when the owner’s expectation and the market are two different numbers,” says Alex Markus of City-Lets.
Starting High and Reducing Later Can Backfire
Sellers sometimes advertise above the expected sale price because they want room to negotiate. There is a difference between leaving reasonable negotiating room and simply starting too high.
Consider an apartment worth around HUF 70 million based on comparable transactions.
The owner lists it for HUF 77 million, 10% higher, expecting buyers to negotiate. But buyers comparing it with similar properties around HUF 70–72 million may simply ignore it.
A 3% reduction takes the asking price to HUF 74.69 million. Another reduction of roughly 2.4% brings it to around HUF 72.9 million.
The apartment is finally closer to the market, but weeks have been lost.
“The first few weeks are when a new listing attracts the most attention,” Markus says. “If you waste that period at an unrealistic price, reducing it later doesn’t put the property back in the same position.”
Duna House data supports this. Realistically priced Budapest properties sold only around 2–3% below their original asking price in the first half of 2026. Properties that required a price reduction ultimately sold around 11% below their original asking price.
Starting higher did not necessarily produce a higher selling price. It often produced a longer sale.
Asking Prices Can Give Sellers the Wrong Benchmark
One of the easiest ways to overvalue a Budapest apartment is to compare it only with similar properties currently advertised online.
An asking price is not a transaction price.
“If an owner compares their apartment with five similar listings that are themselves overpriced, they can easily arrive at a sixth unrealistic asking price,” Markus says.
Buyers are making their own comparisons. They can see what else HUF 70 million, HUF 80 million or HUF 100 million buys across a district.
An active market does not mean buyers will accept any asking price.
Buyers Compare More Than Square Metres
Price is only part of the calculation.
Condition, layout, natural light, floor, lift access, heating, building condition and expected renovation costs can substantially change what someone is prepared to pay.
A renovated apartment at HUF 70 million and another asking HUF 70 million but requiring HUF 10 million of work do not represent the same value to a buyer.
The same applies to a dark courtyard-facing flat, an awkward ground-floor property or an apartment in a building facing major renovation costs.
“Owners sometimes decide what they need to receive from the sale and work backwards from that number,” Markus says. “But the buyer doesn’t know what the owner needs. They are comparing the property with everything else they can buy.”
That is ultimately the number that matters.
Budapest buyers have not disappeared. They have choices.
A property priced for the market it is actually entering has a much better chance of selling than one priced for the market the owner hopes still exists.