Budget 2017 will be announced next week with plenty of interest in it from a property perspective.
The Government is widely expected to introduce a number of measures to address the lack of housing supply, with not only a ‘Help-to-Buy’ scheme mooted but also potentially measures to help reduce construction costs and reduce planning constraints by circumventing lengthy local authority procedures.
A recent MyHome.ie survey, contained in our Q3 Property Report released earlier this week in association with Davy, found that many are predicting a tax rebate for first-time buyers.
The fact only 11% of respondents to the survey expected a government scheme to provide cheap loans to buyers, along the lines of the UK Help-to-Buy schemes, shows that at least people are against a return to the days of cheap credit.
Indeed, the majority of those question on the matter at 48% said they would prefer measures to help homebuilding with 40% seeking tax reliefs for homebuyers.
Speculation in the papers today suggest a first-time buyers’ grant worth up to €20,000 will be announced but only remain open for a limited period, which could be as short as two years.
This is because Minister for Finance just wants to kickstart construction rather than for it to become a standard measure.
The Government's housing plan, 'Rebuilding Ireland', is based on package of measures until 2021 but it is expected that the first-time buyers' grant will have a much shorter lifespan, possibly just two years.
Final details of how the grant will work, including the thresholds for qualification, are still being finalised.
First-time buyers will be able to claim 5pc of the value of a new build back through an income tax rebate according to the reports.
What would you like to see done?
- Are the measures being discussed enough to help ‘kickstart’ the market?
- Should more be done to help builders get back building again?
- What would you like to see implemented in Budget 2017?
Have your say below…
