Budapest’s commercial real estate sector is the second most popular in all of East/Central Europe. Prague, the Czech Republic’s historic capital city, remains in first place when it comes to the number of western and domestic companies looking to establish offices and headquarters in the region, but Budapest’s commercial real estate market is becoming increasingly dynamic and is catching up as well. 

Even more encouraging for Hungary’s business community is that Cushman and Wakefield, a prominent international real estate firm, has concluded that Budapest is now a more attractive destination for those looking to establish commercial offices and ventures than Vienna, Warsaw and Bucharest.

There are a number of factors that make Budapest so popular in the eyes of private sector companies that are looking to extend their business in East/Central Europe. First, the commercial real estate market is still very competitively priced in the Hungarian capital, when compared to other major cities in Europe.

In fact, in a Europe-wide survey, Budapest received third place when in terms of the ratio between a given property’s price and its overall quality.

Additionally, the local government—and in some cases, Hungary’s national government—has built a reputation for offering new companies seeking to establish themselves incentives and various forms of support.

But perhaps even more important than this is the fact that Hungary’s skilled labour force is growing and has now reached an impressive size. This is always a highly important consideration for foreign companies, as they have to be able to rely on the local workforce’s training, education and language skills when it comes to opening a successful new business in Hungary.