MyHome.ie has welcomed the launch of a new €2 billion mortgage fund by Bank of Ireland.
The new fund is a follow up to the €1.5 billion fund which the Bank launched last December and which it now says is oversubscribed.
Managing Director of MyHome.ie Angela Keegan said there was clearly a demand from many first time buyers who wanted to purchase a property before the end of the year in
order to benefit from generous mortgage interest relief measures. Those who buy after January 1st 2013 will not qualify for tax relief.
“We have said it consistently over the last two years – what the market needs is transactions. Last year it’s estimated less than 1% of the housing stock changed hands. In a normal market that figure would be 3 or 4%. There are many reasons for the drop in transactions but one of the main ones is the difficulty prospective buyers have had in accessing finance. We hope this new fund will help alleviate that problem.
"We believe the recovery in the property market has begun but given the excess supply situation which exists in several parts of the country and the variable factors which will impact property prices in the future, the journey back to a normal functioning property market is unlikely to run smoothly. The recovery or normal market we want to see is one where the level of transactions is appropriate for the population and the size of the market. Recovery does not mean a return to the kind of prices we saw in Celtic Tiger era,” Keegan said.
