Background information

The government launched a home renovation programme in July 2024 that supported renovations that substantially improve the energy efficiency of the dwellings. HU-2024-27/3638 . This focus was a response to the fact that about 70% of family homes have substandard energy efficiency ranking in Hungary, and the pace of renovations is woefully 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. But the participation in the 2024 programme remained disappointingly low during the second half of the year. As a result, the government suspended the original programme and restarted it, after substantially relaxing the rules and limitations set in the previous programme. While the original programme was part of the REPowerEU Plan, the new programme is co-financed under the aegis of the multiannual financial framework MFF, more specifically the Hungarian Environmental and Energy Efficiency Operational Programme Plus (KEHOP).

Content of measure

The scope of the programme covers owner-occupied family houses (including inter-generational houses with more than one dwelling) that were completed before 1 January 2007. 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 (approximately EUR 6,000 to EUR 15,000). This combined sum is intended to cover no more than six-sevenths (85.71%) of the eligible investment costs, the call for applications said. Within the combined support, the relative share of the non-refundable grant and the loan is 50%-50%, irrespective of the location of the dwelling or the applicant’s income level. The eligible renovation projects include the insulation of facades, slabs and roofs; the replacement of doors and windows; the upgrade of hot water systems; and, as a supplement to insulation and door and window replacement, the upgrade of heating systems. The renovation project must be completed, both physically and financially, within 24 months of signing the loan agreement. The total budget allocated to this programme is HUF 73.01 billion (approximately EUR 181 million). The programme has two streams: one for Budapest applicants and one for those outside Budapest. About 8.5% of the total sum is allocated to Budapest. As for the other 91.5%, nearly two-thirds of the remaining funds are allocated to the four least developed regions.

Use of measure

Based on a Ministry of Energy Facebook post from April 2025 and a Ministry of Energy communication in January 2025, about 1,100 application was submitted from the start of 2025 to 23 April; the combined sum of the requested grants and loans amounted to about HUF 5 billion (€12.3m). The combined number of applicants who were awarded support up to 23 April 2025 from both the previous, RRF-financed and the present programme was 1,300, with the sum distributed being HUF 4.6 billion (€11.3m).

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

ÉVOSZ (National Federation of Hungarian Building Contractors) proposed that only contractors listed on the dedicated registration list of contractors should be allowed to participate in the implementation of the energy-saving investments, to facilitate the removal of low-quality players from the market.

MÉASZ (Hungarian Building Materials and Construction Products Association) called for expanding the range of technical solutions and insulating materials that are eligible for support. It also proposed including certain costs (for example, cost of roof tiles and technical inspector fees) as eligible expenses. Also, MÉASZ emphasised the importance of starting an energy upgrade programme for condominiums.

ÉKE (Hungarian Building Materials Trade Association) suggested adding some types of costs to the list of eligible expenses, especially scaffolding and shipping costs. It also advocated for stricter selection criteria for contractors and building materials trade firms, citing previous cases of rampant cost accumulation, due to high markups on the materials used.

The Hungarian branch of Habitat for Humanity praised the decision to allocate much of the outside-Budapest funds to the least developed regions. However, they opposed the exclusion of wood-fired heating appliance upgrades for the programme. Wood-fired heating is widely used in low-income households, which are often at risk of energy poverty.

Many anonymous commenters suggested that the requirement for applicants to have lived in the house on a permanent basis at least since the programme’s launch in December 2024 was too restrictive. They proposed some later eligibility date. This suggestion has been accepted through an amendment in April 2025, which set the date of submitting the application as the eligibility date.

In a country report to the European ReHousIn research programme, published in August 2025, the authors noted that the Hungarian home renovation subsidies in general – not just this programme specifically – were less likely to reach poorer households, thereby the gap in energy efficiency was bound to widen further. Moreover, state-funded renovation programmes typically do not include public housing.

Sources

• 07 November 2024: Q&A on the draft call for home renovation programme 2025 - Budapest (www.palyazat.gov.hu)
• 07 November 2024: Q&A on the draft call for home renovation programme 2025 – outside Budapest (www.palyazat.gov.hu)
• 20 December 2024: Homepage of the home renovation programme 2025 Budapest (www.palyazat.gov.hu)
• 20 December 2024: Homepage of the home renovation programme 2025 outside Budapest (www.palyazat.gov.hu)
• 23 April 2025: Data by the Ministry of Energy regarding the use of the programme (www.facebook.com)
• 01 August 2025: National Report on the Housing System from a Multi-Level Perspective: Hungary - ReHousin project (rehousin.eu)