Budapest apartments, from the floor plan to the tenant
A listing tells you the size, district and asking price. It rarely tells you why three rooms open into each other, whether the bathroom can move, or what the building will be like to manage.
Open the floor planThe first decision
A finished flat can start earning sooner. A tired one may have a better layout hidden inside it. A large old apartment might become one good home—or two bad ones.
Would you rather pay for someone else’s renovation, or find out what is behind the wall yourself?
Less construction and a faster handover. But fresh paint is not proof of new wiring, straight floors or a healthy building.
More control over the result. Also more chances to discover old pipes, limited electrical capacity and costs that were invisible during the viewing.
The interesting option. Could the old kitchen become a bedroom? Could 110 m² become two apartments people would genuinely want to live in?
One old apartment, three futures
Many late-19th-century Budapest rental houses put their grandest rooms along the street and smaller service spaces toward the courtyard. Connected rooms created a formal sequence for receiving guests; kitchens, storage and domestic work were kept farther back. Other houses and smaller flats worked differently, but the point is the same: a layout that feels inefficient in 2026 may have been perfectly logical 120 years ago.
Why is the kitchen all the way back there—and what happens if we move it?
A typical hierarchy, not one universal plan
Street-facing rooms were often larger and more representative; courtyard spaces could be smaller and darker.
Budapest’s rental houses ranged from palace-like apartments to workers’ housing. In the larger bourgeois type, representation mattered: tall street rooms formed a sequence, while circulation and service spaces followed the structure of the building and the domestic life of the time.
That history is why some plans now look generous and awkward at the same time.
Historical basis: Lechner Knowledge Centre research on Budapest rental houses; archival plan collections from Lakás-Történet. The interactive plan below is an original reconstruction, not a copied archival drawing.
A rough working envelope, not a quotation. Old buildings create surprises, and the specification changes everything.
2026 planning ranges. Includes VAT only where a contractor’s quote would include it; professional fees, furniture and purchase costs are separate.
The same apartment, seven moments
The “after” photograph is the least informative part. The real decisions happen when the walls are open, the old wiring is visible and the plan has to survive contact with the building.
What is behind this wall?
You found an apartment you like
Buying is easier to understand as a series of questions. Each answer changes what you should do next.
Try the numbers
Start in euros or switch to forints. Every amount changes together; the underlying calculation stays the same.
Conversion: 1 EUR = 364.84 HUF, MNB official daily rate, 16 September 2026.
Illustrative annuity calculation only. Real financing depends on the bank, valuation, borrower, fees and contract.
Two places can both be “central”
Budapest is easier to understand through comparisons than district rankings. Choose two places and look at what changes: the walk home, the buildings, the likely tenant and the catch.
Things listings leave out
The useful stories usually begin where the listing description ends.
About Levi
I rent out a house at Lake Balaton and operate a short-term rental around Batthyány tér. I buy and renovate apartments, have turned apartments into long-term rentals, and work as an apartment manager for a Budapest Airbnb management company.
That means a normal week can involve a contractor, a tenant, a guest, a broken appliance and an old building that has its own opinion about the plan.
I partly use financing to buy earlier instead of waiting until I can pay for everything in cash. Rent contributes toward the mortgage over the following years. My own plan is that by around age 50, the loans are paid down and the apartments form part of my retirement income.
I am not a property guru. I just work with apartments every day—and genuinely enjoy talking about what makes one interesting.
Have an idea?
A listing, a strange floor plan, a question about an area, or an idea you are not sure would work—I would genuinely enjoy looking at it.
You do not need to be ready to buy anything. We can simply talk about what makes it interesting.
Let’s talk ↗