Background information

Under government decree 782/2021 and in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the following cost-of-living crisis, the reference rates of homeowner mortgage loans were capped during the period of 1 January 2022 and 30 June 2022. The reference rate was capped at the rate registered on 27 October 2021

Content of measure

The measure affects two types of retail mortgages:

• mortgages (both home loans and mortgage-backed loans) linked to a reference rate with interest cycles of 3, 6 or 12 months (but less than 3 years)
• subsidised home loans with preferential floating rates

The rules also stated that banks are not allowed to raise the mortgaged amount or total amount of interest owed, in other words the interest rate cap cannot have negative consequences for the borrower later on either. Lenders were required to notifiy borrowers if their loan contracts qualified for the reference rate cap and their contracts had to be modified.

Use of measure

Government sources calculated that the reference rate cap would affect about 460,000-470,000 in 2022, amounting to about HUF 30 billion (€81.6m) in savings for borrowers and loss for banks who had to finance the measure, portfolio.hu said. At the time of ending the rate cap for SMEs, the government said it helped over 50,000 companies with their loan repayments in a value of HUF 150 billion (€379.5m), kormany.hu reported.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	SMEs	Applies to all citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Company / Companies	Companies

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

No involvement reported.

Views and reactions

The Banking Association said the continuous extensions of the interest rate cap scheme hurt Hungary’s competitiveness and subsidises consumers who took risks on their loans and did not convert them to fix-rate from floating-rate contracts

Sources

• 24 December 2021: Govt decree 782/2021 (njt.hu)
• 07 January 2022: Govt gift to borrowers arrives (www.portfolio.hu)
• 17 June 2022: Govt decree 215/2022 (njt.hu)
• 14 October 2022: Govt decree 390/2022 (njt.hu)
• 27 October 2022: Govt latest interest rate cap decision (www.portfolio.hu)
• 15 November 2022: Govt 415/2022 with amendments (njt.hu)
• 12 May 2023: Govt decree 175/2023 (njt.hu)
• 22 November 2023: Govt decree 515/2023 on the state of war danger (njt.hu)
• 30 November 2023: Govt decree 522/2023 (njt.hu)
• 01 April 2024: SME interest rate cap ends (kormany.hu)
• 20 June 2024: Govt decree 130/2024 (njt.hu)
• 02 December 2024: Govt decree 374/2024 (njt.hu)