Hungarians are taking on more and more debt

Hungarian households are taking out increasingly larger loans: the average amount per contract has increased spectacularly for several key products – points out Péter Gergely, financial expert at BiztosDöntés.hu.

According to the specialist portal’s calculations based on data from the Hungarian National Bank, the average amount per contract for housing loans jumped by nearly 23 percent, to 22.1 million forints in 2025 from less than 18 million a year earlier. “The fact that the average amount of housing loans increased by almost a quarter last year can clearly be explained by the launch of the Otthon Start loan in September, as banks reported an average of nearly 35 million. This is supported by the fact that in December, which set a new record for the contractual amount, nearly 28 million was available for a single housing loan,” recalls Péter Gergely. Based on this, he adds, the average amount of housing loans may continue to increase this year, as the majority of new contracts will continue to be provided by Otthon Start.

The average loan amount for personal loans also increased significantly, by 18.3 percent in 2025, thus approaching 3.2 million forints. Meanwhile, the number of contracts concluded also reached a new high – 352.5 thousand – jumped, so the demand for free-use loans that can be applied for without involving real estate collateral remains very strong. “The intense demand and the increase in the average loan amount can be explained by the fact that interest rates continued to decrease in 2025 for personal loans – almost all banks now have single-digit interest rates on the market – while the room for maneuver of households planning to take out loans is also increasing thanks to rapidly rising wages,” argues the financial expert of BiztosDöntés.hu.

It is also noteworthy that the average for free-use mortgage loans, which have been somewhat in the background in recent years, has increased from 15.4 million to 17.8 million, which suggests that this construction is primarily sought by those who do not fit into the framework available for personal loans (typically 15 million), or who prefer the longer term available for mortgage loans due to the relatively high repayment installments of larger personal loans.

As for subsidized loans targeting certain customer groups, the situation has not changed significantly, meaning that the vast majority of customers are requesting the largest possible amount due to the extremely favorable conditions. Thus, for a baby loan with a maximum amount of 11 million forints, a new contract was available for 10.91 million forints, and for a worker loan with a ceiling of four million forints, a new contract was available for 3.88 million forints in 2025.