Hotel tourism
Opinions differ as to how many planned projects are going ahead in a changing market environment regarding financing, leasing, sustainability, design, and investment. Budapest Business Journal real estate editor Gary J. Morrell spoke with leading actors in the local commercial real estate market about its prospects and the issues impacting development in the various market sectors post-COVID.
We expect a couple of Budapest hotels to trade this year and possibly more in the first half of 2022, but the investor demand we experienced back in 2019 is still far away. Foreign investors are looking for downtown flagship properties, but owners are not forced to sell these at a discount yet. Domestic investors are also actively looking at Budapest but also outside Hungary. Many investors are focusing on resort-type hotels as the next asset class to have in their portfolios as the pandemic has shown that there is traveler demand for these holidays. We see a lot of development activity in the near future. The ex-Buddha Bar hotel is under renovation, W (at the former Ballet Institute building) will open soon, the Autograph project in Dorottya utca is on schedule, and there are plans for Sofitel and Gellért to be fully renovated. But those properties that are in the development phase and where construction has not started are mostly on hold. Owners are trying to figure out what to build and how to operate.
Confirms: Péter Takács / Newmark VLK Hungary
