Budapest’s office market is gradually tightening as vacancy declines and development activity remains historically low, even though companies are still reluctant to expand their footprints.
The vacancy rate fell to 12.2% by the end of the first half of 2026, down 0.6 percentage points year-on-year, according to iO Partners’ latest Central and Eastern European office-market report produced with JLL.
Prime office rents nevertheless remained unchanged at around €25 per sqm per month, leaving Budapest behind several regional capitals where tightening availability has already translated into higher rents.
Leasing reaches 215,000 sqm, but renewals dominate
Total leasing activity reached approximately 215,000 sqm in the first six months of the year, broadly unchanged from the same period of 2025. Net demand fell 19% to 100,500 sqm, while lease renewals represented 53% of total activity. New leases accounted for just 21%, while owner-occupier transactions represented another 20%.
Vacancy also varies sharply by location. Central Buda had a vacancy rate of only 6.4% at the end of the second quarter, followed by North Buda at 8.9%, while the peripheral market remained significantly looser at 20.1%.
Almost no speculative offices are being completed
Only two modern office buildings were completed during the first half of 2026, adding around 42,800 sqm. Both BudaPart Central and BudaPart Corner BOK are owner-occupied buildings used by Hungarian public entities rather than conventional speculative offices available to private-sector tenants. No new modern office space was delivered during the second quarter.
The speculative development pipeline is also unusually small. Just over 110,000 sqm of new speculative offices currently under construction are scheduled for completion by the end of 2028.
That compares with a modern Budapest office stock of almost 4.5 million sqm and means the amount of genuinely new space available to tenants will remain limited over the next several years unless developers launch additional projects.
Investment market is recovering faster
Hungarian commercial real estate transactions reached approximately €606 million in the first half of 2026, according to iO Partners, representing a 60% year-on-year increase. Several large Budapest office transactions have contributed to the recovery.
Wing acquired Capital Square from CA Immo during the first half. The approximately 34,000 sqm Váci Corridor office building was valued by local market reports at around €60-70 million.
Wizz Air also acquired Millennium Tower I from CA Immo. The 18,800 sqm building was reportedly valued at around €40 million and represents one of Hungary’s largest recent owner-occupier office transactions.
Investor activity continued in September when Skanska agreed to sell the second phase of H2Offices to the Erste Open-Ended Real Estate Investment Fund. The approximately 22,000 sqm building is fully leased to a global occupier under a 10-year contract.
