New semester starts with ample dorms, rental apartments - paper

University students are not facing the same rush this year in their search for rental flats because of more dormitories and a growing number of long unsold homes that are being put to use as rentals, business daily Napi Gazdaság said on Friday, citing real estate brokers in university towns around the country.

One-room flats in communist-era pre-fab blocks in Veszprém (NW Hungary) can be had for HUF 25,000-40,000 a month. Rent for a one-room flat in Miskolc (NE Hungary) is as little as HUF 20,000 a month.

In Pécs (SW Hungary) demand for rental flats has dropped because of the more than 4,000 modern dormitory spaces available to students. A one-and-a-half room flat rents for HUF 40,000-50,000 a month.

In Szeged (SE Hungary), where there are fewer dormitory spaces, rents for flats shared by two or three students are at most HUF 60,000 a month. However, the university attracts a number of foreign students who are ready to pay HUF 120,000-130,000 a month for higher quality accommodations.