State Secretary Miklós Panyi said the Home Start Programme, a recently announced scheme offering subsidised credit to first-time home buyers, could help tens of thousands of young Hungarians purchase their own home.

From September, the government will offer first-time home buyers loans of up to HUF 50m with fixed rates of 3pc. The loans will be available to first-time home buyers regardless of age or family status.

After talks with the Hungarian Banking Association on Tuesday, Panyi said the banking association was involved with the drafting of the scheme, but there were still more details that needed to be hammered out. Work on fleshing out the rules for the credit is underway, he added.

Anna Florova, who heads the banking association's retail lending working group, noted that subsidised credit accounted for 20-25pc of home loans at present.

She said that commercial banks were eager to participate in the Home Start Programme and were getting ready for the scheme's launch on September 1.

Panyi said instalments on Home Start loans could be even lower than monthly rents.