Coming soon: Hungary’s new home start credit scheme launches 1 September

Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, has confirmed the Sept 1 launch date for the Home Start subsidised credit scheme for first-time home buyers.

At a weekly press briefing on Monday, Gulyás said a decree on the details of combining the 3 percent fixed-rate credit with other home purchase subsidies will be published this evening.

He said the interest subsidy translated into monthly savings of 30,000 forints compared with market loans for every 10 million forints of credit taken out.

Borrowers may raise up to 50 million forints of Home Start credit with a 25 year maturity, with down payments on the loans set at 10 percent.

Gulyás said that around 15,000 home builds could start in 2025 and a “significant” part of those would be eligible for the Home Start credit. He added that the rules for the credit were sufficiently flexible while also safeguarding against inflation.

Public interest in the scheme appeared to be keen, he said, adding that negotiations with banks were ongoing. Banks knew that competition would be stiff and offers were likely to be even more favourable than the mandatory rules on the market, he said.

Real estate developers are also showing keen interest in the scheme, Gulyás said.

Investors will find it economically viable to build a condominium consisting of more than 250 properties where at least 70 percent of them meet the conditions of the programme, Gulyás said, adding that this year alone 15,000 real estate developments can be launched across the country, many of which will be available under Home Start.

The decree is also harmonised in terms of price caps, as it raises the price threshold for properties that can be purchased under the CSOK Plus family support scheme while also offering sufficient guarantees that commercial property prices will not be increased but actually curbed.