ARE YOU STUCK with a mortgage on an apartment in Budapest and want out? Relax. Help may be at hand as a Dublin agent is pitching to buy back apartments in the Hungarian capital.
Acting on behalf of a group of foreign investors, Stephen Conway of Stillorgan is shopping for well located apartments which are showing a return of at least 7 per cent. Though it’s unlikely that such well performing assets would be the first to go, his clients reckon that some of the Irish investors who swooped on Budapest in the last decade may now be under pressure given the economic difficulties at home and the fact that salaries are being cut right across the board (unless you’re in banking that is).
The investment group is looking for up to 50 apartments and development sites for up to 20 homes. According to Conway, they have a fund of up to €6 million to start with.
The reality is that most of those who bought in Budapest are probably quite happy with their investments, if they can afford to carry them through the present difficulties. It’s a capital city that is relatively buoyant, and attracts a huge numbers of tourists as well as a surprising number of Irish students studying subjects like veterinary science and medicine.
It’s a different matter altogether for Irish investors who were unfortunate enough to have bought in Bulgaria, where values are down by as much as 80 per cent.
In Spain, too, values are on the floor because of the oversupply in that market, and because many of those purchases were luxury buys that owners here are finding difficult to maintain.
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