The price ceiling for homes to qualify for the First Home Scheme has been extended across 17 counties or local authority areas nationwide in a move that should make more people eligible for the State’s shared equity scheme.
The First Home Scheme is a €740m fund set up to help first-time buyers bridge the gap between their mortgage, deposit and the price of a new home.
Under the scheme the government helps you to buy a new home by covering up to 30% of the property's price – or 20% if the buyer is also using the Help to Buy Scheme. In exchange, the government gets a share or stake in your home. This means you’ll own the home together with the government, with the government’s share based on the amount contributed.
The scheme is open to first-time buyers who want to buy a new home, people who want to build their first home on their own site and for people who want to buy the home they are renting because their landlord is selling.
Recent figures showed that homebuyers who use the shared-equity scheme are getting average financial support of €66,000.
The latest review of the scheme has seen an increase of €25,000 in the ceiling across 17 of the 31 local authority areas.
The local authority areas seeing an increase are Carlow, Kerry, Roscommon, Cavan, Laois, Tipperary, Cork City, Leitrim, Waterford city and county, Donegal, Longford, Westmeath, Galway city, Meath, Wexford, Galway county and Monaghan.
The changes mean the ceiling for a house or an apartment in Cork city will rise to €500,000. This is the level it remains at in Dublin city, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, South Dublin, and Wicklow.
In Galway city the new threshold will be €475,000, in line with the existing thresholds in Kildare and Meath. Galway county has seen the new ceiling set at €450,000 for houses and apartments. Cork county remains unchanged at €450,000.
Limerick city now has a threshold of €425,000 for houses and €450,000 for apartments, with Louth now at €425,000 for both houses and apartments.
For Waterford city and county, the threshold is now €400,000 for houses and €450,000 for apartments.
A threshold of €400,000 for both houses and apartments has been set for Mayo, Kilkenny, Laois, Westmeath, Wexford and Kerry.
Clare, Sligo, Offaly, Carlow, Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Longford, Monaghan, Roscommon and Tipperary now have a threshold of €375,000 for both houses and apartments.
The changes, which took effect on January 1st, should allow more first-time buyers to qualify for the scheme. These people would have been ineligible for the scheme until now if the price of their chosen home was above the price ceiling for their local authority area. The changes may also encourage the supply of additional new homes in areas with low stock of new homes currently.
The aim of the new price ceilings is to ensure the scheme can benefit as many people as possible without causing distortion in local housing markets, the company said.
Reviews on the ceilings in each area will continue to be carried out on a biannual basis, with the next due in mid-2026.
Further details on the scheme can be found at www.firsthomescheme.ie
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