About Budapest

Situated in the heart of the Carpathian Basin, the Hungarian capital of Budapest is one of the fastest growing cities in Eastern Europe, yielding significant investor potential.

The city is divided in two by the river Danube with Buda lying on the right side of the river and Pest on the left. Low mountains and János Hill, the highest summit of Buda, surround hilly Buda, which comprises one-third of the city's area of 525 sq km. The medieval Castle District was home of the rulers of Hungary of old. The Buda Castle houses cultural institutions including museums, libraries and theatres.

Across the river sprawls the flat Pest. The southern downtown area, once surrounded by walls, houses the oldest historical monuments of Budapest dating back to the 18th century, as well as the capital's financial and cultural centre. North Downtown hosts the government and administrative quarters with the Parliament Building, MPs' offices and ministries.

While steeped in culture and history, Budapest's economy has progressed rapidly from its past. In 1989 the Hungarian property market underwent a seismic change when it moved from a state owned to a privately owned market. Since 1998 to today national bank interest rates have dropped from over 20%. When Hungary joins Euro currency, interest rate will have dropped considerably to EU central bank rates.

As has happened in other European countries, it is expected that the key factors of decreasing interest rates/loan repayments and the development of the mortgage market will add to capital growth in Budapest property values over the coming years and create an ideal once off opportunity for investors to gain from property price increases.

In 2003, just over 6,000 housing units were completed in Budapest, a very low figure for a city of around 2 million people. With an old housing stock, the risk of over supply in the market is extremely low.

Budapest's stable growing economy, independent legal system, and young, highly educated workforce has attracted a large number of foreign companies to the country. In the last 15 years, over $61 billion has been invested in the city by foreign companies. With its famous thermal spas, hundreds of museums and galleries and numerous opera houses and theatres, Budapests position as the "Pearl" or "Queen" of the Danube ensures it receives a large percentage of the 10 million tourists that are attracted to Hungary annually. Two million visitors sought commercial accommodation in Budapest in 2001 spending a total of 5.1 million nights. The number of foreign visitors was 1.6 million, 55% of whom came from European Union member countries. Last year, most visitors arrived from Germany, Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, France and Austria. In recent years Budapest has become a popular destination for conference tourism. There are numerous facilities available to cater for corporate events in the city, including the Budapest Convention Centre.

Budapest is a lively and pleasant city - a place where local people and visitors can find a variety of leisure activities and entertainment. In recent years the lively café life that had characterised Budapest in the early 20th century has also been rekindled. Walking around the city, visitors are lured by a multitude of cafés and terraced restaurants, such as Liszt Ferenc Square in the 6th district and the recently renewed Ráday Street, in the 9th district. The cultural life of Budapest would be inconceivable without buoyant nights in the theatre. Many of the renowned old theatres have been remodelled over the past few years including the Operetta and Thalia Theatres. In 2002 the National Theatre that was demolished in the 1960's was rebuilt on a new site. "Szabó Ervin", the Central Public Library also underwent spectacular renewal and expansion, which was completed in 2001, making it one of the largest contemporary public libraries in Central Europe.

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As its economy has grown the local municipality has ensured that the infrastructure of the capital has kept pace with this development. Budapest has one of the best infrastructures in Europe with a fully integrated public transport network, including 3 metro lines, trams, trolley buses and trains to the main cities in Europe. Between 1991 and 2001 the Budapest Municipality spent 35% of its revenues, 100 billion forints (4 billion euros) on transport development.

Useful Links

Budapest portal
Budapest on LonelyPlanet.com
Budapest Info
Budapest Index