Szociológiai szemle

The paper analyses the expansion and crisis of the FX (foreign currency) loan market and the mortgage rescue programs introduced in response, in the context of the Hungarian housing regime. The housing market expanded through mortgage lending from around 2000, initially thanks to substantial interest rate subsidies by the state. After 2004, low-interest, high-risk FX loans replaced subsidised loan products, allowing continued market expansion. Housing policies that pushed for privatisation and replaced the state-financed housing solutions by the private banks’ mortgage products led to a distorted housing regime that incentivises private ownership for lower income social strata as well. Initially, as the economy grew and living standards increased for many, this seamed feasible both to institutional actors and the broader society, resulting in a shared narrative concerning preferences and responsibilities. The 2008 crisis substantially changed this, as FX loans became unaffordable. Various actors had conflicting interests in placing blame and paying for losses. This led to the fragmentation of the shared narrative, and consequently, incompatible proposed solutions. We argue that the coping strategies and broader behaviour of the participants reinforced the disproportionate elements of the housing regime. After 2015, housing policies again rely on economic stabilisation, this time subsidised by the EU, incentivising market solutions for private home ownership and disregarding the experiences of the past decades.