The Housing Market of the Budapest Urban Region 1949-1983

Abstract

By the late fifties reserves of infrastructure and labour in Budapest were becoming exhausted and it was decided to divert potential Budapest-bound migrants to other centres, developed with government help, outside commuting range of the capital. The urban hinterland was rapidly urbanised, without a plan and lacking basic infrastructure. Some evidence suggests that this urbanisation would have occurred even if the 1958 restrictions on residence in Budapest had not been imposed. In 1971 various housing reforms were instituted to reduce tensions in the housing market. These included rent rises and special treatment for needy cases. Although it has been suggested that these housing market tensions and the effects of housing reforms since 1971 have caused increased social class segregation in the Budapest urban region, Census data shows continuously declining social class segregation. This may be because continuously low housing costs, (never more than 6% of personal income for all social groups), and the fact that environmental and district social class is not reflected in house prices has led to a dilution of pre-existing social class segregation.