If you’re planning to buy a home with a mortgage in the next couple of years, 2026 is a big red circle on the calendar. The central bank is tightening one of its key safety belts on lending – the JTM rule – and that directly affects how much home loan you can get for a given salary.
The twist? For many buyers with net monthly income between 600,000 and 800,000 HUF, the maximum loan amount will shrink, even if their pay doesn’t change at all.
Let’s unpack what’s happening, in everyday language, and what it means for your property plans.
What on earth is JTM, and why should you care?
JTM, jövedelemarányos törlesztőrészlet mutató, is the debt-to-income cap set by the central bank. It tells banks what percentage of your regular net income they are allowed to use up with monthly loan repayments.
In practice this means:
• The bank adds up all your existing monthly repayments, such as mortgage, personal loan, car loan, credit card minimums and overdraft.
• Then it checks your new, proposed repayment.
• The total cannot go above the JTM limit for your income band and loan type – or they must reduce the loan amount or say no.
So JTM is the rule that stops you from getting a huge mortgage that looks good on paper today but would make life extremely tight if interest rates or your expenses change.
The key change from January 2026: the 800,000 HUF line
Right now, the high flexibility JTM band kicks in at a net monthly income of 600,000 HUF. For long-term, safer home loans, forint mortgages with at least 10-year fixed interest or fully fixed, banks can go up to:
• 50 percent of net income below 600,000 HUF
• 60 percent of net income from 600,000 HUF upwards
From 1 January 2026, that step moves higher:
• Up to 50 percent of net income if you earn under 800,000 HUF
• Up to 60 percent only from 800,000 HUF net and above
In other words, people earning between 600,000 and 799,999 HUF net per month drop back into the stricter 50 percent band.
There’s another small tweak. The tiny loan threshold that is exempt from JTM rises from 450,000 to 550,000 HUF total loan amount. That mainly affects short, small loans, not typical mortgages.
What does this mean in real money?
Let’s take a simple example based on recent calculations used by one major finance portal for a classic home loan with a 20-year term and around 6.2 percent total cost, THM, with no other loans.
Imagine you earn 600,000 HUF net each month.
Under today’s rules, with 60 percent JTM, the bank can go up to about:
• 360,000 HUF maximum monthly repayment
• which roughly supports a mortgage around 49 million HUF
Under the 2026 rules, with 50 percent JTM, the cap becomes:
• 300,000 HUF maximum monthly repayment
• which only supports roughly 41 million HUF
That’s around 8 million HUF less borrowing power – just because the JTM band has moved, even though your income stayed the same.
The same logic hits everyone in the 600,000 to 800,000 HUF range. The more you were planning to stretch your budget, the more noticeable the difference.
If your net income is under 600,000 HUF, the cap already sits at 50 percent, so the new rule doesn’t really change your side of the table.
If you earn 800,000 HUF or more, you stay in the 60 percent band. For higher-income buyers, the main driver of affordability will still be interest rates and property prices, not this specific tweak.
Why is the central bank tightening now?
A few big trends are behind the move:
• Home prices and loans have both been rising again. The central bank’s housing report shows that nominal house prices picked up again in 2024, with prices up by around 7 percent year-on-year at the start of the year, and strong growth especially in smaller towns and villages.
• Mortgage activity has jumped. By late 2024, the value of new housing loan contracts was more than double the level of a year earlier, with the average new housing loan climbing to about 19.2 million HUF.
• Interest rates, while lower than their recent peak, are still not cheap money. The average rate on market-based housing loans has been hovering around 6.5 to 6.8 percent.
• New subsidy programs, including discounted-rate home start style loans and extra housing support packages, are expected to push incomes and borrowing capacity higher in 2026, according to the central bank’s own projections.
Put all that together and you get a familiar picture. There is strong support for home buying, bigger average mortgages, and the risk of households becoming too heavily indebted just as the economy is still finding its feet.
The JTM tweak is the central bank’s way of gently tapping the brakes for mid-income borrowers without turning off the lights for everyone.
How the rule change plays with the property market
On the property side, the market has already come back to life after the slow 2023 period. Transaction volumes rose strongly through 2024, with one major property network estimating around 125,000 sales and more than 1,300 billion HUF of new housing loans in that year.
In big cities, especially in the new-build segment, price per square metre has pushed into eye-watering territory. Newly built flats in the capital reached an average around 1.47 million HUF per square metre by early 2024.
In that environment, mid-income buyers were increasingly stretching their loans to the 60 percent JTM band just to reach the properties they wanted. The new 800,000 HUF threshold is partly about nudging that group to either look at slightly cheaper homes, bring more savings or family support, or increase income, for example with a second earner, before borrowing heavily.
Should you rush to apply before 2026?
Tempting as it is, it’s not quite as simple as grabbing a loan now or never.
Some banks have already signalled that what counts is the approval date, not the application date. That means applications submitted late in 2025 but approved in 2026 could be evaluated under the new JTM rules.
You should never push your budget to the absolute maximum just because a calculator says you can. A 60 percent JTM can look fine on paper and feel very different in real life once you factor in future kids, car repairs, or job changes.
A more realistic action plan if you’re in the 600,000 to 800,000 HUF band:
1. Use a JTM-aware loan calculator and run your numbers at both 50 percent and 60 percent to see how big the gap really is.
2. Talk to a mortgage broker or bank adviser about how existing loans, credit cards and overdrafts affect your JTM. Sometimes just closing unused credit lines makes a noticeable difference.
3. If a slightly lower loan would still work for your property plans, don’t risk over-borrowing today purely to beat the calendar.
4. If your dream home absolutely depends on that higher limit, work backwards and ask what income or co-borrower setup would get you into the 800,000 HUF and above band safely.
Quick 5-Point Q&A Summary
1. What is JTM, in simple terms?
It is a rule that caps how much of your net monthly income can go to loan repayments. Banks must check it for almost all larger loans and refuse or cut back a loan if the total repayments would exceed the allowed percentage.
2. What exactly changes in 2026?
The higher, 60 percent JTM band will only apply from a net income of 800,000 HUF instead of 600,000 HUF, so borrowers between 600,000 and 800,000 HUF move back to the 50 percent band for most long-term, safer mortgages and personal loans.
3. Who is most affected?
Mainly buyers with net income between 600,000 and 800,000 HUF planning to borrow at the top of their capacity. Their maximum monthly repayment, and therefore their maximum mortgage size, will fall by roughly one-sixth if everything else stays the same.
4. Does anything change if I earn less than 600,000 HUF?
Not much. Your JTM cap was already 50 percent, and that remains the main limit, although other rule tweaks like the higher small-loan exemption can affect minor borrowing.
5. Is it always smart to borrow before the new rules start?
Only if your finances are genuinely ready anyway. Since banks may apply the new rules based on the approval date, and because stretching to the absolute maximum JTM is risky, it is safer to plan carefully than to rush a decades-long commitment.