Buying a home in Ireland as a solo buyer can see impossible, myhome and doddl want to help with support from search to keys. Lets look at some statistics in the market right now for solo homebuyers.
1. Solo buyers are about 31% of first-time buyer mortgages
That means roughly 1 in 3 first-time buyer mortgages is a solo borrower.
2. Solo buyers are buying older
CSO says the median age of a sole purchaser was 42 in 2024, compared with 38 for joint purchasers.
This is a function of the salary level and deposit you need to build up a solo buyer.
3. The most common property type for solo buyers are apartments
Of all the apartments purchased (via FTB mortgages) in 2025 64.2% of these were by solo first-time buyers.
In Dublin alone approx. 47% of solo FTB mortgages in Dublin were to purchase apartments, versus 14% of joint buyer mortgages drawn down were to purchase apartments.
4. Solo buyers borrow less — the stetch on affordability
Median FTB mortgage value:
Solo borrower: €248,000
Joint borrower: €345,000
This really highlights the stretch on affordability for a single income home buyers.
5. Solo buyers are more likely to buy second-hand
Only 22% of FTB mortgages drawn down to buy new properties were drawn by solo borrowers, but 36.4% on existing properties were solo borrowers.
New builds are becoming increasingly less accessible for many single-income home buyers even with schemes such as the help to buy and first home scheme put in place to help homebuying of new builds. Pricing is the major factor.
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