The number of permanent residents fell in county seats and several Budapest districts last year, as suburbs saw growing populations as well as property price rises, according to a property analyst. The population grew by 821 people in Érd, near Budapest, where property prices also grew by 16% to 753,000 forints/sqm. Other localities near the capital saw the same trend, with the population of Vácrátót growing by 12% and property prices by 17%, László Balogh of real estate website ingatlan.com said on Wednesday. In other suburbs such as Erdőkertes, Nagytarcsa, Biatorbágy and Gyömrő, populations grew by some 300-400 people, while property prices rose by 4-21%, he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the population of Budapest fell by 13,000 last year to 1.63 million, and cities like Pécs, Szeged, Debrecen and Miskolc lost 1,100-2,200 inhabitants, the website said. Still, property prices in cities grew by 13-21%, to 660,000-813,000 forints. The price increase in districts and country seats already losing inhabitants was due to continued high demand due to investors and the population loss came to only 1% in those cities, ingatlan.com noted. Also, certain Budapest neighbourhoods and university districts remain popular with investors who are driving up prices, the statement said.