MNB: the vacancy rate increased in the first half of the year in the domestic commercial real estate market, but the real estate stock may expand

Head of department Sándor Winkler, presenting the bank’s latest report on the commercial real estate market, said that the existing real estate portfolio could increase by 6.4 percent in the office market and 13 percent in the industrial logistics market in the next two to two and a half years, so that in the former markets within a year, while in the latter within two years, the risk of oversupply may become apparent.

On the Budapest office market in the first half of 2023, the change in the total leased office stock was negative, and with the new handovers the vacancy rate rose to 12.6 percent – he said, noting that this trend is expected to increase.
He explained that the level of gross demand is still about 15 percent below the average levels before the coronavirus epidemic. Office space accounting for approximately 6.4 percent of the total office stock in Budapest is currently under development, however, further developments have not begun.