Wekerle Plusz 2027: Hungary's home energy renovation scheme

Hungary is preparing a support scheme for home energy renovation, one of the main elements of Wekerle Plusz, a new programme that the prime minister announced in parliament on 19 October 2026 and whose details the government presented at a press conference on 27 October. Listed in official materials as Wekerle+ Energetikai Felújítási Támogatás és Hitel, which translates as energy renovation grant and loan, the scheme has 633 billion forints of EU funding for 2027 to 2030, and the goal is to renovate more than 120,000 residential properties by 2030, roughly 30,000 homes a year. Family houses and apartment buildings are covered by separate schemes: the Wekerle+ Családi Ház Program for family houses starts in February 2027, followed in March 2027 by the Wekerle+ Társasházi és Panel Program for condominiums and prefabricated panel blocks. At the time of writing, at the end of October, no government decree or call for applications had yet been published for the renovation part, so what follows is based on the announcements, the government information site wekerle.kormany.hu and press reports, and the final rules may still differ.

Who can apply, and how much support is on offer?

Anyone can apply for the renovation support for a property of which they own at least half, regardless of age or place of residence, and there are no conditions relating to having children, marriage or family status. In the family house scheme, eligible buildings are detached family houses, terraced and semi-detached houses, and individually heated apartments in buildings with only a few units. Here owners can take out a preferential loan of up to 15 million forints at a fixed annual interest rate of 3 percent over 15 years, and on top of the loan amount they must put in an own contribution of 5 percent, capped at 500,000 forints. According to a statement by the minister for economy and energy on 21 October, this allows a renovation of up to 15.5 million forints per family house. Press reports say the loan will be available through the expanded MFB Pont network, the client offices linked to the Hungarian Development Bank (MFB), with commercial banks involved in some schemes, but it is not yet known which part of the programme will run through which channel or which banks will take part.

The share that does not have to be repaid depends on the energy rating of the building before renovation: in categories D to G it is 30 percent of the loan amount and in categories H to I it is 50 percent, which on the maximum loan of 15 million forints means 4.5 million and 7.5 million forints respectively, while family houses rated A to C qualify only for the preferential loan. The condition is a primary energy saving of at least 30 percent, which must be demonstrated by comparing the energy performance certificates issued before and after the renovation. An important detail is that the non-repayable portion is not paid out as freely spendable cash but is deducted from the outstanding loan principal as an early repayment, and the renovation costs must be backed by invoices. In the condominium and panel scheme, condominiums and housing cooperatives can take out interest-free loans of up to 5 million forints per apartment in brick-built buildings and up to 4 million forints in panel buildings, with an own contribution of 200,000 forints per apartment and the same non-repayable shares. The government announcement and wekerle.kormany.hu word the eligibility of C-rated condominiums differently, so this point will have to be settled by the final rules.

What is eligible, and where do solar panels fit in?

In the family house scheme, support covers insulation, replacement of windows and doors, modernisation of lighting and shading, domestic hot water systems, heat pumps, efficient split air conditioners and thermostatic radiator valves. The costs of design, a technical supervisor and application consultancy can also be claimed, which matters because planning the work and proving the savings typically requires a professional. Installing or replacing a gas boiler, however, is not eligible in either the family house or the condominium scheme, so anyone planning to swap an old boiler for a newer gas unit will get no funding for it from the programme. For condominiums, besides insulation and window replacement, eligible items include among others the replacement of the district heating substation and connection to the network, building-level central heating, heat cost allocators, thermostatic radiator valves, energy upgrades of lifts and heat pump air conditioning.

Solar panels are eligible in both schemes, but only to a limited extent, up to a share of 20 percent. It is not yet clear what this 20 percent refers to: wekerle.kormany.hu speaks of at most 20 percent of the support, whereas reports by the state news agency MTI and the news portals Telex and Portfolio refer to 20 percent of the 15 million forint family house loan limit, meaning up to 3 million forints. If the cap applies only to the non-repayable portion, the amount available for solar would be much smaller, at the maximum loan amount no more than 1.5 million forints for H to I ratings and no more than 0.9 million forints for D to G ratings, but this will only be decided by the detailed rules. At the time of writing, energy storage appears neither in the government announcement of 27 October nor among the eligible items listed on wekerle.kormany.hu, although it is not explicitly excluded either, so its eligibility remains open. Nor is there any official information on whether the renovation support can be combined with the Otthoni Energiatároló Program, a home energy storage scheme, or with other renovation schemes already running.

What should owners do now, and what is still open?

Although applications can only be submitted from 2027, it makes sense to start preparing now. The first step is an energy assessment, because the rating before renovation determines whether a 30 or 50 percent non-repayable share is possible or only a preferential loan; according to Portfolio, the government would simplify obtaining the certificates, but the details and costs are not yet known. It is worth requesting quotes for the planned work to see whether the package fits within the limit, and thinking through the order of the works as well: from a technical point of view it generally makes sense to start by reducing heat loss, then upgrade the heating system and finally add renewable energy generation. According to the financial portal Pénzcentrum, the president of the Magyar Családi Ház Tulajdonosok Egyesülete, an association of family house owners, fears that a sudden wave of subsidies could cause a shortage of contractor capacity, longer waiting times and price rises, which is another argument for getting informed early. According to the announcements, 70 to 80 energy advisers across the country will support applicants from the start of the process to the end.

Starting the actual works before the final call is published, however, is not advisable. It is currently unknown whether work started in advance will be eligible, and since the savings must be proven by comparing the certificates before and after the renovation, insulation or window replacement carried out too early might no longer count towards the savings to be demonstrated. Other open questions include when the non-repayable portion will be credited, whether there will be an advance or pre-financing, what happens if the certificate after the renovation does not show a 30 percent saving, and how the 5 percent own contribution relates to the 500,000 forint cap, given that 5 percent of a 15 million forint loan would be 750,000 forints. It also remains to be clarified whether the five-year restrictions on occupancy, sale and letting announced for the condominium scheme also apply to family houses. For the final conditions, it is worth following the forthcoming government decree, the call for applications and wekerle.kormany.hu.

If the renovation plan includes solar panels or energy storage, a local, independent specialist installer can assess, size and later install that part of the project on the basis of an on-site survey. This can show, even before the final call is published, what size of system suits the building and its expected consumption, for example the electricity demand of a planned heat pump. The support conditions will be set by the official call, but the technical side can already be thought through now.