State Secretary Miklós Panyi said a subsidised credit scheme for first-time home buyers could boost the rate of owner-occupied residential property in Hungary, supporting the "normalisation or even reduction" of rental rates.
In a talk on the Home Start Programme with Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister's Office, Panyi said the Home Start Programme could give people looking for investment real estate an incentive to put their money elsewhere, causing the market to "cool".
The programme, set to launch on September 1, will offer all first-time home buyers, regardless of age or family status, a 3pc fixed-rate loan up to HUF 50m for the purchase of flats in multidwelling units up to HUF 100m and detached homes up to HUF 150m. The down payment for borrowers is set at 10pc.
Panyi said that ownership of real estate with a value under HUF 15m or of a part of a home, up to 50pc, would not exclude potential borrowers from the Home Start Programme.