Buyers of property in Hungary have an appetite for Budapest, TheMoveChannel.com’s At a Glance reveals. The infographic, based on activity on the property portal in the past 12 months, shows that real estate in the country’s capital is the most popular, accounting for almost four in 10 (38.28 per cent) of all Hungarian property searches.

Budapest benefits from having one of the highest profiles in Hungary among foreign investors. Indeed, many buyers search specifically for known areas within the city, with Budapest District V, District VII and District VI all appearing in the top 10 most searched-for locations. Together, searches for property in the city and those three regions account for almost half (48.4 per cent) of all Hungary searches on TheMoveChannel.com.

That demand continues through to the purchase stage, with Budapest real estate generating 29 per cent of all Hungarian enquiries on the site. But Budapest has competition from another in-demand destination: Heves. The region is famous for its therapeutic hot springs, which have given rise to increasingly popular resorts. Heves now accounts for one quarter (24.95 per cent) of Hungarian enquiries.

Somogy is the third favourite destination for buyers, responsible for 13.24 per cent of enquiries. The region is also significantly sought-after, with Karad and Siofok both appearing in the top 10 most searched-for destinations, together accounting for 6.38 per cent of all searches. Heves, by contrast, is only the subject of 2.10 per cent of searches, suggesting that buyers on TheMoveChannel.com are attracted to Heves for specific developments rather than a general interest in the area.

The At a Glance infographic also charts activity on Google over the past year. Prospective buyers most commonly search for “property for sale in Hungary” and are particularly interested in “houses for sale in Hungary”. Villas or apartments for sale in the country, on the other hand, appear in no Google searches at all. Overall, searches for Hungarian property have actually decreased in the last year, suggesting that buyers remain too cautious to return to the recession-hit housing market.

Editor Ivan Radford comments:

“European investors such as the Irish have always had a taste for Hungary´s capital city, particularly before the recession, but the At a Glance infographic reveals the increasing importance of other groups in the Hungarian real estate market. Holiday home hunters are turning to towns such as Somogy’s Siofok for the picturesque surroundings of Lake Balaton, while Russia´s expanding middle class are investing in developments such as the Saloc International Resort & Spa in Heves, which now drives a significant proportion of Hungarian activity on TheMoveChannel.com.

“Searches for Hungarian property may be decreasing on Google, but enquiries on TheMoveChannel.com have remained consistent in Budapest over the last 12 months, while a range of opportunities in Heves have seen enquiries peak in March 2013, rising 53 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 compared to the previous quarter. If that trend continues in the coming 12 months, appetite for Heves could well eclipse the existing craving for Budapest property.”

Click here to see the full infographic

Founded in 1999, TheMoveChannel.com is the leading independent website for international property, with than 400,000 listings in over 100 countries around the world, marketed on behalf of agents, developers and private owners.

The website address is http://www.themovechannel.com/ and the office address is 24 Jack´s Place, Corbet Place, Spitalfields, London, E1 6NN.

Contact Dan Johnson on 0207 952 7650 for further information.