Bank of Ireland says it will be making €1.5 billion available to customers buying their first home or moving home next year through a new mortgage fund.
The bank said the fund would act as a further support to first-time buyers following measures announced in the Budget.
"Should we see demand outstripping the fund then we will extend the size of the fund to cater for and support this demand," Bank of Ireland said.
The announcement follows Minister for Finance Michael Noonan's decision to introduce an incentive in Tuesday's Budget to kickstart the property market.
Buyers have just 12 months to cash in on the incentivised scheme. Up until now, couples buying a home next year would have qualified for €900 in mortgage tax relief but that has now jumped to €5,000.
If they buy in 2012 they can expect that the increased level of relief will last until 2018, meaning they could end up saving as much as €35,000 by buying now rather than wait until 2013 or beyond when they will be entitled to nothing even if prices do drop slightly more.
