Background information

The government ran a home renovation programme, shaped by demographic considerations, namely to promote births and family formation, in 2021-2022. A new, much smaller renovation support programme was launched mid-2024. Unlike the previous programme, the new scheme does not limit availability to families with children – instead, it is limited to renovations that subtantially improve the energy efficiency of the dwellings. This focus is a response to the fact that about 70% of family homes have substandard energy efficiency ranking, which increases the energy import dependence of the country. At present, only about 1% of dwellings are renovated annually, which is insufficient in light of the EU requirement to reduce the primary energy consumption of residential buildings by at least 16% from its 2022 level until 2030. The programme is part of the REPowerEU Plan.

Content of measure

The scope of the programme covers owner-occupied family houses that were completed before 31 December 1990. Homeowners can apply for a combination of a non-refundable grant and an interest-free loan for home renovation projects that result in a reduction of primary energy consumption by at least 30%. The total amount of the grant and loan must be between HUF 2.5 million and HUF 6 million (between approximately €6,000 and € 15,000). This combined sum is intended to cover 85.7% of the eligible investment costs. The eligible costs cannot exceed HUF 7 million (€17,000).

Within the combined support, the relative share of the non-refundable grant and the loan is determined by the per capita GDP level of the district (járás) in which the house is located. In districts with low GDP, the ratio of the grant is higher than that of the loan, and vice versa. For households at the higher and lower ends of the income distribution, the ratio between the grant and loan components is determined by the applicant's per capita income. If energy consumption is reduced by at least 40%, the proportion of the grant component increases.

The total budget allocated to this programme is HUF 108.24 billion (approximately €27 million). The total sum awarded to the renovation of homes in Budapest is maximised at 6% of the budget. As regards fossil fuels, the modernisation of a heating system with a high efficiency gas boiler, or the upgrading of the domestic hot water system using natural gas could be supported up to HUF 20 billion of the budget and for loan contracts signed by 31 December 2024.

Use of measure

The number of successful applications was 500 and some 4,000 applications were under evaluation in the second half of November 2024. This is a disappointing outcome because the support scheme was scaled for about 20,000 renovations – only a fraction of family homes in need of energy renovation – and the government expected the number of applications to reach this limit in a short period of time after the launch in July. The government responded by flagging a revision of the parameters of the programme. According to plans, from the beginning of 2025, the pool of family homes whose owners may apply for renovation support will be expanded to include all houses that were built before 2007 (instead of 1991, as stated in the original terms). Furthermore, the differentiation according to per-capita GDP levels and household income levels will be eliminated, and the loan-to-grant ratio will be uniformly 50-50%, portfolio.hu reported. See case HU-2025-4/3928

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Does not apply to businesses	Other groups of citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government EU (Council, EC, EP)	European Funds National funds

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 was reported.

Views and reactions

According to a representative of one of the construction material wholesale companies, the underwhelming response to the support programme was due to the overly complicated formal application terms and the slow loan approval process. She welcomed the plan to widen the range of the eligible applicants starting in 2025. The president of ÉVOSZ (National Federation of Hungarian Building Contractors) welcomed the decision to expand the pool of eligible dwellings from January 2025, saying that probably tens of thousands of homes were built between 1991 and 2007 with substandard energy parameters. The president of the “trade of building materials” section of ÉVOSZ commented in early December 2024 that – in light of the still disappointingly modest magnitude of new loans taken for renovation purposes – it was urgent to simplify the conditions of acquiring the renovation support to boost the households’ renovation activity. In August 2023 – when the framework of the future renovation programme was already known – the National Society of Conservationists commented that it would be necessary to renovate as many as 120,000 – 130,000 homes annually to achieve the energy efficiency-related commitments made to the EU and to enhance energy sovereignty. Compared to this magnitude, the programme that envisages the renovation of 20,000 homes by 2026 is clearly inadequate.

Sources

• 11 August 2023: RePowerEU draft version - Q&A (www.palyazat.gov.hu)
• 27 April 2024: New Home Renovation Support from June (epitesijog.hu)
• 17 June 2024: Call for Home Renovation Programme for Residential Energy Efficiency Investments published - June 24 (www.palyazat.gov.hu)
• 17 June 2024: Call RRF-REP-10.13.1-24 for support in “Home Renovation Programme for Residential Energy Efficiency Investments” (otthonfelujitasi-tamogatas.hu)
• 21 June 2024: New Home Renovation Subsidies from July (epitesijog.hu)
• 31 October 2024: Home renovation scheme to be broadened (www.portfolio.hu)
• 07 November 2024: Amended RRF-REP-10.13.1-24 Call for tenders “Home Renovation Programme for Residential Energy Efficiency Investments” (www.palyazat.gov.hu)
• 22 November 2024: Home renovation scheme slow, renewal in Jan 25 (www.portfolio.hu)
• 26 November 2024: Construction industry bottomed out (www.portfolio.hu)
• 04 December 2024: Radical housing subsidies needed (www.penzcentrum.hu)
• 20 January 2025: Ministry for Energy statement on relaunching the OFP (kormany.hu)
• 11 December 2025: Govt decree 389/2024 on the non-Budapest leg of OFP (njt.hu)
• 20 December 2025: Notice of suspension of the programme. (www.palyazat.gov.hu)