Energy Saving Investments Planned by Hungarians

40% of Hungarian households are planning to invest in energy saving, with 10% more households planning to spend on energy efficiency upgrades in their homes since July last year, according to the latest representative research by Cofidis Hitel Monitor.

The credit specialist company surveys domestic households' expectations regarding their financial situation on a quarterly basis.

The latest survey reveals that 84% of Hungarians expect challenging times ahead, but the Cofidis Hitel Monitor Family Budget Sentiment Index, which stands at minus 23 points, is less pessimistic than at the end of last year. Despite a 14-point improvement, the results are still similar to the first period of the coronavirus epidemic.

The implementation of plans has been hampered by increased spending due to inflation, according to the survey. Nearly a quarter of Hungarians are comfortable on their income, but three quarters of respondents have a shortfall in their family budget. For the majority, this deficit amounts to around HUF 200,000 a month. Due to the rise in food prices, respondents spend 35,000 forints more per month than in July last year.

The survey shows that Hungarians have become more cautious, with 59% saying that it is worth waiting before taking out planned loans. At the same time, one fifth of them still believe that it is worthwhile to use a loan to make the investment if the money is invested in something that will pay back the cost. The data shows that those who had already planned to make a return on their investment in the last 3 years were more likely to have invested in heating upgrades (45%), insulation (34%) or solar PV (28%).

The real motivation for Hungarians to invest in energy saving is not environmental awareness but to save as much money as possible: 13% of them consider this to be the only motivation, while 40%, although taking sustainability considerations into account, consider it more important to spend less thanks to retrofits.

According to Cofidis research, 9% of Hungarians plan to take out a loan in the next year. The average planned loan amount is HUF 1.169 million, with the most common loan purposes being buying a home (33%) and renovating a home (30%), with car purchase coming third with 22%.