It would make sense to change what we mean by “newly built”

Even experts can't say much about how the price of newly built homes will change in 2016 as there are several different factors on the market – but the definition of what is and what isn't newly built is also changing.

Gábor Péter MRICS, CEO of the real estate developer Volumetric Magyarország Ltd. told Portfolio that it can be expected that the prices of newly built homes will continue to grow in 2016 because of the increasing price of land, increasing construction and additional costs, expected profit of investors and developers, the changing value of the Forint, cumulated postponed purchases etc.

Because of the expected growth in prices it makes sense to implement measures that could slow this trend.

By the definition of the new family housing allowance (CSOK) newly built houses are those that were issued the construction permit after 1st July 2008, but because of the different interpretation considering the VAT those that were issued utilization permits before 1st January 2014 are still subject to 27% VAT.

Therefore it would be a logical step to unify the definitions of the VAT and CSOK systems – by using the definition of the CSOK one of the main reasons behind the changes could be instantly realized.

The homes in question would become available with a price reduced by even the full value of the reduced VAT. This would allow hundreds of families in Budapest only to move to newly built homes immediately and for a significantly lower price.

(Source: http://www.portfolio.hu/ingatlan/lakas/nem_mindegy_hogy_mit_neveznek_uj_epitesu_lakasnak.225132.html)