Budapest seeking to ease housing shortage
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony announced the establishment of a city agency to match renters with home owners at a press conference on Wednesday.
Karacsony said the city was working to “exploit hidden reserves”, adding that Budapest had a lot of vacant, unrented units, creating “waste and shortage” on the housing market at the same time. The mayor also said it was “very important” to increase the ratio of municipally owned rental units in the city.
The new Metropolitan Home Agency will ensure that rent and utilities bills are paid, taking on “practically all” of the risk related to renting out flats in the city, said Vera Kovacs, the agency’s head.
Owners of flats between 20sqm and 100sqm, in good condition, are being invited to join the scheme. Soon, owners of flats in need of repair or renovation will also be allowed to register for the programme.
