Home purchase scheme for village residents to be launched in July

The government will launch a special version of its Home Purchase Subsidy Scheme for Families, known by its Hungarian acronym “CSOK”, targeting rural areas on July 1, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office told a regular press conference on Thursday.

The government adopted detailed regulations for the scheme at its latest meeting, Gergely Gulyas said.

The programme will affect some 2,486 villages and will cover homesteads outside communities, he added.

The government expects the scheme to help prevent the emptying of villages. In line with CSOK rules, 600,000 forints (EUR 1,890) support will be available for families with one child, 2.6 million forints for two children and 10 million forints for three children, he said. The money can be used for revamping homes or buying new or second-hand homes but only half of the money can be used for home purchase unless it’s a new home, he added.

The same rules apply as with regular CSOK regarding minimum floor space requirements and the property must not be purchased from close acquaintances or from a company owned by the buyer, he added.

The government expects to rely on savings cooperatives as special partners in transferring payments, and banks must not require clients to use additional services as a precondition for transferring CSOK, he said.

Meanwhile, commenting on the drought which recently hit farmers, he said the ministry had received 550 claims for compensation from the beginning of the year, covering a total 24,000 hectares affected.

The government is also planning assistance to building irrigation systems to make farms less vulnerable to the weather, Gulyás added.

On another subject, he said that in spite of Europe’s “worrying” economic indicators, the foundations of the Hungarian economy were stable, adding that it still had reserves for future growth. The economy is therefore in good enough shape to avert a potential economic crisis, he added.

Gulyás also noted that the government was hard at work on an economic action plan with specific schemes that would help boost household savings.