Rogan: Government to set up national building society

Budapest, January 18 (MTI) – The government is planning a National Home Building Society modelled on British building societies, cabinet chief Antal Rogan said on Monday.

Stable economic growth and a low budget deficit over the past few years have given leeway for the government to launch a home-building scheme, Rogan told journalists at a roundtable. The government also regards new home building as a priority after some fallback in the sector in the past, he added.

A new element in these efforts is setting up a state-backed national home-building society in competition with existing private home-related savings schemes, Rogan said.

Whereas 1 million people have put savings into home-related savings funds to which the government added about 50 billion forints (EUR 158m) in grants annually, not much of these savings are turned to new-builds, he said. “The national home-building society will resolve this issue, and anyone who joins and saves should be able to build a home within ten years,” he said.

The related bill could go before parliament on Tuesday or Wednesday, and after about a month of debate, parliament will be able to hold a vote in mid-March, he said. The society should start operating in earnest in 2017.