HUNGARY: Property boom hits the Hungarian-Romanian border as people from the Romanian side buy houses in Hungary and commute over

Record ID: 601055

  • Title: HUNGARY: Property boom hits the Hungarian-Romanian border as people from the Romanian side buy houses in Hungary and commute over
  • Date: 29th May 2007
  • Summary: EXTERIOR OF BATTONYA VILLAGE VILLAGE SIGN IN THREE LANGUAGES - HUNGARIAN, ROMANIAN AND SERBIAN RIVERBANK IN BATTONYA CENTRE WITH CHURCH DUCK ON RIVER VILLAGE STREET
  • Embargoed: 13th June 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: International Relations,Economic News
  • Reuters ID: LVA3VIPX8SPXFETRMLAJNBZC3OY0
  • Story Text: As property prices are rising steadily in Romania people who live near the Hungarian border are finding cheaper housing solutions across the border.
    In Arad, a fast developing town about 10 kilometers from the border, more and more citizens are buying houses in nearby Hungarian villages and commuting back over the border to work.
    "Many Romanians prefer to buy apartments in Hungary near the border because the prices are much lower, and there are better deals over there. And because it is so close many people from here can afford to commute from there," an Arad resident, Eugenius, said.
    Before Romania became EU member this Romanian-Hungarian border stretch was an external EU border with strict passport and customs controls in place.
    But since January controls have eased considerably, and now crossing the border only takes a few minutes, the commutew between Arad and the Hungarian side is just twenty minutes.
    The peaceful village of Battonya, just 2 kilometers from the border station, is a favourite among property buyers from Romania.
    Sandor Kezdi, a businessman from Arad, bought a 4 bedroom house in a quiet street of Battonya last year for only 4,000 Euros. He says the house is now worth four times as much. He has been renovating the traditional-style house with his friends and is very happy with the move he made.
    "I commute from here to Arad. I am still working, my wife is a pensioner. I leave in the morning and return in the evening. I sit outside in the garden terrace in the evening and enjoy the peace and quiet here that feels really good after a 12-hour working day," Kezdi said.
    Kezdi says they like Battonya very much for its nice atmosphere, welcoming locals and they value that they can even afford such things as a small pool at the back of their garden overlooking quiet fields.
    And because their home town Arad is so close, and the border process so smooth, they can still keep up their work there. "There will be more and more people who will want peace and quiet, people who want the same thing as I do and are still working. Many people have bought properties here this year. As far as the prices are concerned; there is a 3-5 million Forints [approximately 12,000 - 20,000 Euro] difference between properties here and in Arad," he said.
    But not every house buyer from Romania is like Kezdi and his family, says the mayor of Battonya, Jozsef Karsai.
    He is worried that too many buyers are mere speculators who buy up properties and leave them uncared for until they sell them for higher prices.
    More than 100 houses have been bought by buyers from Romania over the past two years, says Karsai, which means around 10% of the whole village of 2,300 people.
    "We have problems with those houses that are bought for speculative reasons. We expect even more development here, especially if our thermal waters and other developments get going, and then the prices will go up and people will sell them. My big problem is with these speculators because the gardens and street fronts of their houses are neglected and ruin the look of our nice town, and people say, 'here is another one of a Romanian buyer, and another one', and their street fronts are usually not cared for. These people have only bought these houses for business purposes. Those who really live here do look after their houses nicely," Karsai said.
    The mayor hopes that more and more real residents will settle in the village instead of speculators, and continue the property boom.

    STOCKSHOTS STREET SCENES
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register