A number of housing initiatives have been introduced in recent years with more due to be implemented throughout 2022.
Here is a brief overview of some of the most popular ones:
Help-to-Buy incentive
The Help to Buy Incentive is a government initiative to help First Time Buyers purchase their first home.
Your property may be a house, an apartment or self-build but it must be NEW property.
You may be entitled to a rebate based on your last 4 years payment of Income Tax (PAYE) and Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT).
Up to €30,000 or 10% of the property value may be claimed.
Criteria for qualification
- First-time buyers
- Owner occupier
- You must borrow at least 70% of the property value
What homes qualify?
- Newly built houses and apartments valued no higher than €500,000
- Self-builds
- The developer or builder needs to be registered with the scheme
Where do you apply?
You can submit your application through Revenue using your myAccount service.
Rebuilding Ireland Loan
The previous Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan was a government-backed mortgage.
It’s aim was to allow first time buyers to purchase a new or second-hand property, or to build their own home.
This loan is a normal capital and interest-bearing mortgage which is repaid by direct debit on a monthly basis.
As of the 4th of January 2022, the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan Scheme is replaced by the Local Authority Home Loan Scheme.
Any loans, loan applications in progress, or approvals outstanding will be unaffected under the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan Scheme.
As of January 4th 2022, applications for the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan Scheme will no longer be accepted. All new applications will be processed under the Local Authority Home Loan Scheme.
You can find further information and full details of the new loan on the Local Authority Home Loan website.
Shared Equity Scheme
The Government lends you the money and charges interest on this loan.
In addition, the Government takes an ownership stake in your property. This is equal to the percentage of the property’s value that they have contributed.
So, if the Government has put up 10% of the money via an equity loan, they own 10% of the property.
This differs from a mortgage whereby the bank puts up the money and takes a charge on the property as a security but does not take an ownership stake in the property.
If you sell a property that has a mortgage, you pay back the outstanding mortgage.
When selling a property that has an equity loan, the lender is entitled to their percentage of the sales price; if the price has gone up, you will pay back more than the initial loan i.e. the lender shares in the capital appreciation of the property. A bank lending a mortgage does not.
This scheme only applies to first time buyers and for brand new properties only, applicants can apply for up to 30% of the purchase price.
For more information on these housing initiatives and to discuss if any of these options are suitable for you, submit a call request with John Mansworth, Head of Mortgages at Castle Capital here.