Hungary interest rate stays at 5.50% in October 2026

Hungary's central bank left its base rate at 5.50% on 20 October, so forint mortgage pricing and the entry maths on a Hungarian purchase stay put.

The facts

The Monetary Council of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank left the base rate at 5.50% at its meeting on 20 October 2026, with the unchanged rates applying from 21 October.
The overnight deposit rate stayed at 4.50% and the overnight collateralised lending rate at 6.50%, holding the corridor one percentage point either side of the base rate.
September inflation came in at 1.6%, which the Council described as in line with its Inflation Report forecast. Core inflation ran at 1.9%.
The Council's projection puts average price growth at 1.8% for 2026 and 3.1% for 2027, reaching the 2.5% target by the end of the policy horizon.
The communiqué makes no reference to the housing market or to household mortgage lending.

Nothing here lowers the cost of a forint loan. Anyone entering now faces the same financing maths as in September.
Glopra data put the Hungarian average at $4,049 per square metre against monthly rent of $16.76 per square metre, so the yield side of the calculation has not moved either — what changes it next is rent, not the policy rate.
For an owner already holding Hungarian property on a variable loan, the reference rate has no reason to move before the next meeting, and the 3.1% projection for 2027 argues against pricing in a cut.

The 2027 projection of 3.1% sits well above the 1.8% expected for this year; that gap is the clearest reason in the text why the corridor is not moving.
Core inflation at 1.9% is running above the 1.6% headline, so the distance between the two decides whether the published path holds.
The communiqué sets no date for a change, and the 6.50% lending rate remains the ceiling on short-term funding.

Sources: MNB https://www.mnb.hu/monetaris-politika/a-monetaris-tanacs/kozlemenyek/2026/kozlemeny-a-monetaris-tanacs-2026-oktober-20-i-uleserol