According to the applications for the CSOK Plus submitted in the first two months of the year, two-thirds of the couples requesting the loan are childless. This shows that couples have been encouraged to dare to start a family.
In Hungary, people traditionally think in terms of owning their own homes, which not only provides predictability but also financial security for the next generation.
Unlike the existing conditions, CSOK Plus does not distinguish between new and used residential properties. New homes are generally more expensive, which means that the same amount of money will buy a smaller property. However, the good news for buyers is that 80 million forints might be sufficient for purchasing a multi-room new apartment or house. On the other hand, new constructions are often more energy-efficient and have more modern layouts compared to properties that are several decades old.
CSOK Plus is an extremely favourable, state-supported loan for families planning to have children or for those who are wish to have more children. It can be used for the purchase of a first common home, or the expansion or the purchase of a larger common home. It is available in amounts of 15, 30, or even 50 million forints with a fixed 3 per cent interest rate.
High interest rates have taken a toll on the Hungarian housing market, as they have in virtually every country. The expanded CSOK programme by the Orbán administration can do a lot to revitalize the market, all the while incentivizing child bearing in the country.
In the framework of the new CSOK Plus scheme, the state provides a loan of 15 million forints (EUR 38,960) for couples raising one child, 30 million for families with two children and 50 million for those with three or more children, at a 3 per cent interest rate, Minister of Culture and Innovation János Csák announced.
‘It’s nice that a relatively small Central European country like Hungary could be in some ways a sort of laboratory for these kind of family policy experiments so that we could identify which policies had the most significant impact and which ones fell short of delivering the expected results,’ Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow Jay W Richards highlighted in an interview with Hungarian Conservative.
‘When it comes to family policy, I know that many Canadian conservatives view Hungary as a leader, particularly in its various incentive programmes and structures that place families at the centre of government policy,’ senior Canadian conservative advisor Samuel Duncan highlighted in an interview with Hungarian Conservative.
According to a recent study by Hungary’s National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH), frequent TikTok use negatively impacts the ability of young people aged 13–25 to recognize fake news. The study highlights the platform’s influence on critical thinking, revealing that extended TikTok usage diminishes the accuracy with which users assess information.
To support families who are raising or planning to have children, the government will introduce a new measure from 1 October to make it easier for self-employed people who opt for special taxation as well as for primary agricultural producers to claim the CSOK Plus and the Rural CSOK loans, and the baby expecting subsidy. The aim is to make these benefits more accessible to self-employed people. In their case, banks used to take only 10 to 20 per cent of their income into account when assessing their loan applications but will now be obliged to recognize at least 50 per cent of their earnings.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.