Otthon Start one year on: loans, prices, rents and new homes in Budapest – autumn 2026

Hungary's fixed 3% Otthon Start home loan started on 1 September 2025. In one year it reshaped mortgage lending. On 19 October 2026 the government announced that a new scheme, Wekerle Plusz, will replace it. This article collects what official and market data show now. It contains no forecast and no timing advice.

AI illustration (artist's depiction).

House price index. It measures how much the price of the same "kind" of home changed compared with an earlier period. It filters out the fact that one quarter may see more small panel flats sold and the next more large brick flats. Hungary's statistics office, KSH, even publishes this split: the "composition effect" is the change in the mix of homes sold, and the "pure price change" is the price movement itself.

Price per square metre (m²). The purchase price divided by the floor area. A 50 m² flat sold for HUF 60 million costs HUF 1.2 million per m². It compares two flats well, but a district average can also move simply because different flats were sold.

According to the central bank's MNB house price index, national prices in Q2 2026 were 12.3% higher than a year earlier, but 1.1% lower than in the previous quarter. In Budapest the annual rise was 8.3% and the quarterly change −0.6%.

The KSH house price index (updated 1 October 2026) shows a similar picture. The combined index fell 1.4% on the quarter and rose 10.1% on the year. The pure price of used homes fell 1.5% on the quarter; new homes rose 0.3%.

The MNB's May 2026 Housing Market Report estimated that at the end of 2025 national house prices were 22.5% above the level justified by fundamentals such as incomes, interest rates and rents. This is the central bank's estimate.

The Duna House Barometer for September 2026 gives these average prices per m² for Q3:

A district breakdown comes from Otthon Centrum, based on flats sold through its own offices in the first half of 2026. Brick flats averaged HUF 1.82 million per m² in District III, 1.74 million in District I, 1.66 million in District V and 1.63 million in District XIII. Districts VII and VIII were around 1.25 million, District XVIII 1.05 million. These are one agency's figures, not the whole market.

Bank360's summary of MNB data: from January to August 2026, banks signed HUF 2,043 billion of new housing loans. That is 3.9% more than in the whole of 2025. In August new contracts totalled HUF 211.7 billion, and 68.5% of that was Otthon Start.

According to the MNB, the scheme was involved in an estimated 52% of Budapest purchases between September 2025 and February 2026. 90% of Otthon Start loans financed used homes. The share of first-time buyers in the capital rose from 25% to 40% within a year.

Timeline compiled from the sources linked in this article.

Duna House estimates that 26,754 homes changed hands in Q3 2026, 22% fewer than a year earlier. September saw 9,385 sales, 30.1% fewer than in September 2025. The agency notes that the comparison is distorted by the unusually busy autumn of 2025, when the scheme launched.

KSH data for the first half of 2026, as summarised by Economx, show 6,278 new homes completed nationwide, 22% more than a year earlier. Budapest had 2,224, of which 83% were in Districts X, XIII, I and XI. Permits and notifications covered 16,588 homes (+29%). In Budapest they covered 6,560, three quarters of them in Districts XIII and IX.

The MNB reported that in early 2026 9,500 new Budapest homes were unsold, the highest in ten years. The central bank's own short-term forecast is 15,700 completions in 2026.

AI illustration (artist's depiction).

The KSH–ingatlan.com rent index shows that in September 2026 advertised rents in Budapest were 5.3% higher than a year earlier, and 6.0% higher nationally. On the month, Budapest rents fell 0.1%. The Buda hill districts rose 7.4% on the year, inner Pest 3.7%.

According to ingatlan.com's analysis, Budapest had just over 9,000 flats for rent in early October, 12% fewer than a year earlier. The median asking rent was HUF 260,000 a month. Districts II and V were at HUF 350,000, Districts XX and XXI at HUF 200,000.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced the new scheme while presenting the 2027 budget to parliament.

Confirmed: according to the announcement, Otthon Start contracts already signed stay in force unchanged. Announced, not yet in law: it is for people aged 18 to 41; the rate would be a fixed 3% for new homes and 5% for used homes; buyers must live in the home for five years. Open questions: Money.hu reports that no date has been given for the last Otthon Start applications or the exact start of the new loan, and no maximum amount.

1. In MNB statistics, subsidised loans look "more expensive". In August the average cost of subsidised housing loans was 7.48%, against 6.59% for market loans. The reason is a footnote: the subsidised rate "also includes the amount of the subsidy". Under Otthon Start the borrower pays at most 3%.
2. The average price can rise while the pure price falls. KSH shows a total price change of +0.3% for used homes in Q2 2026, but a pure price change of −1.5%. The gap is the mix of homes sold.
3. The rent index rose; the median rent did not. In Budapest the index was up 5.3% on the year, while the median asking rent was unchanged over twelve months. The index compares similar flats; the median also depends on what is on offer.
4. There is a per-m² cap. Otthon Start cannot be used if the gross price exceeds HUF 1.5 million per m². In Otthon Centrum's first-half data, the brick-flat averages of Districts III, I, V and XIII are all above that line.
5. It is not only for Hungarian citizens, but the home is locked for five years. Subject to its other conditions, the decree also treats EU citizens with free-movement rights as eligible. For five years the home carries a state mortgage and a ban on sale and further encumbrance.

AI illustration (artist's depiction).

• The MNB index shows Budapest prices +8.3% on the year and −0.6% on the quarter (Q2 2026).
• January–August 2026: HUF 2,043 billion of new housing loans; in August 68.5% was Otthon Start.
• Duna House estimates 26,754 sales in Q3, 22% fewer than a year earlier.
• Advertised rents in Budapest are 5.3% higher, with 12% fewer flats on offer.
• Wekerle Plusz is so far an announcement: 3% for new homes, 5% for used ones.

Related reading on the housing market: Research archive. A free property price estimate page is also available on dataanalyticsystem.com.

Educational content. Not investment advice. Data Analytic Investments is not affiliated with KSH, the MNB, Duna House, Otthon Centrum, ingatlan.com or the portals cited; brand names are used for identification only. Illustrations marked "AI illustration" are not photographs.