The Government has extended the First Home Scheme to self-builders who are building their first home.
The €400 million fund was set up to help first-time buyers bridge the gap between their mortgage, deposit and the price of a new home as part of the Government’s Housing for All strategy.
The scheme is currently open to those buying newly-built houses and apartments in private developments, and to renters whose landlord is seeking to sell the property they are renting.
The extension announced on Tuesday means that self-build customers can benefit from financial support of up to 30% of the total build cost of their home, to add to their self-build mortgage and deposit.
The scheme is available to qualifying homebuyers and self-build customers who are taking out mortgages from AIB, including its EBS and Haven Mortgages businesses, Bank of Ireland or Permanent TSB.
So far, almost 500 homes in 20 countries have been bought using the scheme, with almost 2,000 buyers approved for the scheme.
Houses with prices of up to €475,000 and apartments with prices of up to €500,000 are currently eligible for the scheme, depending on their location.
Around 80% of approvals have been for buyers in Dublin, Cork, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow, with the remaining 20% spread across 19 counties throughout Ireland.
The Government expects the change announced today to help people in regional locations looking to build their first home.
"This is a particularly important development for people who live in more rural locations or come from a farming background and who have a site, but not the full level of finance they need to build their new home," said Darragh O'Brien, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
"We designed this scheme to be flexible and to evolve so that it can help as many people as possible.
"We previously extended it to help renters looking to buy their home from their landlord and now it’s the turn of self-builders," he added.
