My Home Is My Castle? Sustainability of Private Pensions and Private Homeownership in Hungary

In Hungary the transition process led to a very high private homeownership rate while markets for private pensions are still in their infancy. After 2007, mortgage loans denominated in foreign currency have severely affected large parts of the population. Mortgage and credit markets are recovering only slowly from the global financial crisis. However, the current policy and macroprudential regulations have created an environment which stimulates homeownership by several incentives. This may provide a greater long-term stability on the mortgage markets. Thus, the present developments seem to benefit the accumulation of housing wealth, although it is questionable whether this will be sustainable given the demographic changes.