Modernizing Real Estate Data Management for Budapest Research Forum
Six agencies, three countries, one shared step forward
The Budapest Research Forum, a six-agency consortium collecting market data across 10.8 million sqm of Budapest real estate, chose to raise its own bar. iO Partners - working across Hungarian, Czech, and Slovak colleagues - designed and delivered a new data framework that made quarterly reporting cleaner, faster, and better equipped for the demands of a modern market. A story of collaboration as much as transformation.
A Mature Consortium, Ready to Raise Its Own Standard
The Budapest Research Forum had been a trusted pillar of Hungarian real estate market intelligence for over 25 years - six agencies, including some of the most respected names in the market, voluntarily pooling their data into shared quarterly reports covering millions of square metres of office and industrial stock. That commitment to transparency and cooperation was, in itself, a significant achievement.
Over time, as the volume and complexity of the data grew, the consortium identified an opportunity to modernise the underlying framework - the market's expectations and the possibilities of what good data infrastructure could look like had moved on. The ambition was clear: a more efficient, more transparent, and more future-ready system, built together and owned collectively by all participants.
Rebuilt From the Inside Out - Without Missing a Cycle
- Proposed the transformation across all six member agencies and secured alignment on the new approach before development began
- Designed and developed new Excel-based templates for both the office and industrial datasets - with delivery timed precisely to the start of each quarterly data collection cycle
- Office template delivered in Q2 2025; industrial template in Q3 2025 - including full integration of historical data from 2024
- Reviewed every existing data field for relevance, eliminating redundant columns and introducing new fields to capture sustainability-related metrics
- Merged all legacy datasets into the new structure, ensuring continuity of historical records while eliminating the inefficiencies of the old system
Smarter Data. Faster Reporting. Room to Grow.
- Dataset reduced from over 370 columns to just 45 - transparent, user-friendly, and built for scale
- Quarterly reporting cycles significantly faster and more reliable across both office and industrial datasets
- Sustainability fields integrated from the outset, future-proofing the data structure for ESG reporting requirements
- Full historical dataset preserved and migrated - no data loss, no disruption to the quarterly reporting calendar
"Smarter data structures don't just make reporting easier - they make the insights that drive real estate decisions more reliable, more consistent, and more useful."
Anita Galfi • Research Analyst
If your data infrastructure is slowing down your reporting or limiting your analytical capabilities, contact iO Partners to explore how smarter data structures can unlock better real estate insights.
Research Analyst • Research & Advisory