Sunday’s Grand Prix in Hungary certainly wasn’t short of surprising events. The race started out uneventful. Massa was leading the field, followed by Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen in third.
Disaster struck for Massa though when he suddenly lost a seemingly clear home run due to engine failure only three laps from the closing line. Hamilton also had to bite his tongue when he had a front left care tyre damage which dropped him from second to 10th.
As they say, one man’s misfortune is another man’s luck. The lucky receiver of 1st place in Hungary was McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen who clearly drove a fantastic race in a strong car.
Another lucky man was German Timo Glock who – if you can recall ended up in hospital on the Hockenheim race two weeks ago. Glock scored Toyota’s best result in Sunday’s race with a 2nd place.
Toyota team principal Tadashi Yamashina was equally thrilled. He said “I really can’t find the words to celebrate this result,” he said. “Today Timo did a fantastic race. We saw immediately that his car was quick and and his third stint was almost perfect.”
Only two drivers had to retire from the race this weekend. Ferrari is still leading the Championship with 11 points ahead of McLaren-Mercedes.
- Heikki Kovalainen (Mc Laren-Mercedes)
- Timo Glock (Toyota)
- Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
Ecostat’s Hungarian Economy Report
Back in May this year Ecostat released a report which clearly indicated that the Hungarian economy has good chances of coming our of its stagnancy state in which it has been lurking for the last few years.
The report also indicated that this years economic growth in Hungary could be double from the one in 2007. While the small home market is expected to remain a buyer’s market, export and import are set to rise 11.2 % and 10 % respectively. In fact, Hungarian housing completions are down by 15.5% Y/Y in H1, while new permits are also down 0.8% Y/Y.
External demand and inflation have both been named as the main risks for growth in the country. Judging by a newly released report, inflation has slowed to 4.6% in June.
On the other hand, home owners in Hungary can expect some nice profits as housing values are expected to rise by some 10.5% this year.
Other whispers have mentioned that property in general is being extremely undervalued, especially in Budapest. Naturally, with the market being somewhat slow, there isn’t much chance at cashing in on it, even if the property prices were to increase substantially by the end of the year.
The balance will still need to be existent for the market to become real hot all of a sudden.
However, contrary to most global constituents, both the private sector and government forecasters have increased their GDP growth for this year to around 1.4%. With Hungary being one of the largest producers of maize in Europe, an expected high yielding crop could lead to GDP growth being boosted by a further 0.25 per cent.
The highest new home prices were achieved in Central Hungary in H1. The highest prices in this region, which includes Budapest, were in Szentendre (HUF 380,000-420,000 per square metre), which is situated north of the capital. Prices were also high in the city centers of Pecs (SW Hungary) and Eger (NE Hungary).
Rental fees are expected to rise for new commercial and warehouse space, as well as for A-category office space.
Investors are sitting tight right now, while they assess the outlook and the market in Hungary. Who knows though, depending on the world economy and the global property crisis, Hungary might provide more interesting choices in the future.
