How to Rent Out Your Budapest Flat: What You Can Charge in 2026

August is the best month of the year to let a Budapest flat, and that isn't a coincidence. Tens of thousands of students start university in early September, and the international ones begin hunting in July because they're arranging everything from abroad. List the same flat in October and it usually takes longer to fill and goes for less.

This guide covers what a private landlord in Budapest needs to know in 2026. What you can charge, what the tax actually costs you, what belongs in the contract, and how to write a listing people respond to. The numbers come from our own data rather than a guess.

What rent can you charge?

Start with the real figures. In early August we looked at 173 Budapest rental ads that quoted a monthly price in forint. These are asking prices rather than signed contracts, so treat them as the top of the range. What they show precisely is what everyone else is asking right now.

• Budapest median: 280,000 HUF a month, roughly €710
• Half of all listings fall between 220,000 and 320,000 HUF, about €560 to €810
• The typical rental flat is 49 square metres
• Two-room flats are the most common at 42% of listings, then one-room at 19%

District by district, where there's enough data to be worth quoting. The listing count is in brackets, because a median built on a handful of ads is a shakier number:

• District VII: 230,000 HUF, about €580 (33 listings)
• District V: 300,000 HUF, about €760 (23)
• District XIII: 299,500 HUF, about €760 (20)
• District VIII: 290,000 HUF, about €735 (17)
• District VI: 260,000 HUF, about €660 (14)
• District IX: 240,000 HUF, about €610 (13)

Two things jump out. District VII comes in lower than its reputation suggests, because so much of its stock is small and unrenovated. And Districts VIII and XIII have caught up with central prices, largely on the back of newer flats around Corvin and Újlipótváros. If your flat is in one of those, don't price it from an old assumption.

If you also want to know what the place is worth to sell, our Budapest price data breaks down price per square metre by district, and the July 2026 index ranks all 23 districts in one table.

Why list now rather than later

The Budapest rental market runs on a season, and the peak is mid-August to mid-September. That's when universities start, and international students look weeks ahead of that because they're booking from another country. If you're letting to students, get the listing live in the first half of August and offer a September 1st move-in.

There's a pleasant side effect to being in the market during the peak. You'll get more enquiries, which means you can actually choose, instead of handing the keys to whoever turns up first. Out of season it works the other way round.

Short-term letting isn't the alternative it used to be

If you've been weighing up nightly lets instead, it's worth knowing where the rules now stand. In District VI (Terezvaros), short-term accommodation has been banned outright since 1 January 2026, following a local referendum in 2024. Hungary's supreme court upheld the ordinance, and letting in breach of it carries fines of 200,000 to 500,000 HUF.

There is also a city-wide moratorium in force. No new short-term letting permits are being issued anywhere in Budapest until the end of 2026, though properties licensed before that can carry on. Other districts, District I among them, are weighing similar restrictions.

The practical upshot is simple. If you're starting from scratch today, short-term letting in Budapest is largely a closed door, while long-term letting is wide open and the season is at its peak.

What the tax costs you

For a private individual, rental income counts as income from independent activity and carries 15% personal income tax. You work out the taxable amount one of two ways:

• Flat 10% cost ratio: deduct 10% of your revenue with no receipts at all, and pay tax on the remaining 90%. This is the simple route.
• Itemised costs: deduct documented expenses and depreciation. More paperwork, but it usually wins if you've renovated recently.

Two pieces of good news. Long-term residential letting carries no social contribution tax. And as a private individual you don't need to register for a tax number for VAT-exempt long-term letting, your personal tax identification number is enough. You only need a tax number if the tenant requires an invoice, which normally means the tenant is a company.

Don't get caught out by the deadlines. You pay tax in advance quarterly, by the 12th day of the month following each quarter, and the income goes into your annual tax return, which is due by 20 May of the following year.

Utilities may not count as your income

This is the rule most first-time landlords miss, and it's worth real money. If your tenant pays you the exact metered amount, and you in turn settle with the utility company on actual consumption, the utility charges you pass on are not treated as your revenue. So you don't pay tax on them.

The trap is flat rates. If you pay the provider a fixed monthly amount while your tenant pays you by the meter, the relief doesn't apply. Same if you charge your tenant a fixed utilities fee. In both cases what you collect counts as revenue and gets taxed.

For what actually belongs in the utilities bill and what tenants expect on this front, our guide to furnished flats and rezsi goes through it properly.

Contract and deposit

The deposit in Budapest is two months' rent, and that isn't a matter of custom. Of the listings we checked, 95% ask for exactly that. Ask for three and you shrink your pool of applicants. Ask for one and you've bought yourself weaker protection.

The contract needs the rent and the payment date, the deposit amount and the conditions for returning it, how utilities are settled, the notice period, and a handover record with meter readings. Our guide to rental contracts and deposits covers the detail, and it reads fine from the landlord's side too.

It's also worth considering a notarised vacate declaration. It costs money up front, but if a tenant refuses to leave it's effectively the only fast route you have.

Writing a listing that works

Budapest tenants filter on much the same things: price, district, size, number of rooms, whether it's furnished, and the move-in date. Anything missing from your listing is a filter your flat drops out of. If you want to see what your tenants are reading from the other side of the deal, our renting guide lays it out.

• Put the exact monthly rent in, and the utilities separately. Most people skip listings priced on request.
• Give a move-in date. During the September rush it's often the deciding detail.
• Shoot in daylight, in a tidy and decluttered flat, and cover every room. Eight good photos beat twenty dark ones.
• List what's actually there: washing machine, dishwasher, air conditioning, balcony, lift, storage.
• Spell out utilities and the building's monthly common cost. Vague utilities are one of the most common reasons an enquiry goes quiet.

Choosing who moves in

Screening applicants is the least comfortable part of letting a flat and the most important. Ask where they work and how many people would be moving in, insist on a viewing in person, and never take a holding deposit from someone who hasn't seen the place.

Fraud runs in both directions here. Our piece on rental scams in Budapest is written for tenants, but the red flags are identical: pressure to hurry, money moved from a distance, and an offer that's too good to be true.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much rent can I charge for my Budapest flat in 2026?

The median asking rent in Budapest is 280,000 HUF a month, about €710, for a typical 49 square metre flat, and half of all listings fall between 220,000 and 320,000. District and condition move it a lot: the District VII median is 230,000 while District V sits at 300,000.

Do I need a tax number to rent out a flat in Hungary?

Not as a private individual doing VAT-exempt long-term letting. Your personal tax identification number is enough. You'd need a tax number if the tenant requires an invoice, typically because the tenant is a company, or if you choose to register for VAT.

How much tax do I pay on rental income in Hungary?

15% personal income tax on the income after costs. You either deduct a flat 10% of revenue with no receipts, or itemise documented expenses and depreciation. Long-term residential letting carries no social contribution tax.

Do utilities count as taxable rental income?

Not if your tenant pays you the exact metered amount and you settle with the provider on actual consumption too. If there's a flat rate on either side, the utilities you collect do count as revenue.

How much deposit should I ask for?

Two months' rent. That's what 95% of Budapest listings ask for, so it's both what tenants expect and what they'll accept.

What does it cost to list a property on Housiko?

Nothing. Listing is free, and your flat goes into the Budapest rental results. You can post it here.

List your flat, free

Once you've settled on a price and a date, the next step takes five minutes. Post your listing free and your flat will be in front of searchers when the September rush starts. And if you're curious what it would fetch as a sale instead, our free valuation gives you a data-based estimate in a couple of minutes.