Vienna is the most expensive city in Central Europe in terms of renting an apartment. According to numbeo.com, the average price for a small one-bedroom apartment in the inner districts is HUF 330,000, up 2.1% compared to last year. However, those willing to move further away from the city center can find a similar-sized apartment of the same size for two-thirds of the price. Prague is the second most expensive city in the region, where the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city center is HUF 262,760. The third most expensive city in the region is Warsaw, where the average monthly rent is HUF 240,100.
 
"In Budapest, one can get away with renting an apartment of this size for less, with an average rent of HUF 150,000-160,000 in this category, but in an outer district you can get the same for as little as HUF 120,000," said Gábor Soóki-Tóth. According to the head of analysis at Otthon Centrum, after the big drop last spring, prices have corrected somewhat, meaning that rents have risen, but the reintroduction of closures has stabilized the price level, which can be considered tenant-friendly compared to the continuous increase in recent years.

Even in Ljubljana (average monthly rent of 221,000 HUF/month), the monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city center is 42% higher than in Budapest, while in Bratislava (235,000 HUF) the monthly rent is 50% higher than in the Hungarian capital.
 
Moving westwards, monthly rents in Milan (412,000 HUF) and Munich (480,000 HUF) are both higher than in Budapest. In the east, however, renting an apartment is cheaper than in the Hungarian capital, with rents in the Romanian capital 6.7% lower (HUF 145,000), with similar figures recorded in Cluj Napoca.
 
Among the Central European capitals, Vienna has the largest difference in the average price of rentals in the city center and the periphery (29.2%), while other capitals typically have smaller differences, with costs in the outer suburbs 22-25% being cheaper.

Compared to the end of last year, there has been no dramatic change anywhere, with stable rent levels in Prague and Warsaw, and no more than 1-2% rises in the other cities, except Ljubljana, where average rents in the city center have risen markedly since December (4.6%).
 
However, Otthon Centrum's head of analysis said that living in Budapest does not look as cheap if one takes the varying average wage levels in the region into account. In Ljubljana, the average wage is one and a half times as much as in Budapest, while in Bratislava it is 40% higher. In Vienna, the average wage is 175% higher than in Budapest. According to the press release, renting an apartment in Bucharest is not cheaper than the Hungarian capital, as the average wages are 12% lower, while rental costs are only 6.7% below Budapest's average.