Scheme is impacting house prices in Leitrim says local councillor

Buyers in all 26 counties, including Leitrim, have now been approved by the First Home Scheme however a local councillor has spoken out about his concerns regarding the scheme. 

Cllr Padraig Fallon told the Leitrim Observer that he had concerns regarding "how it is impacting house prices and it's not doing anything to reduce the prices of houses. I'd like to see the money spent building social housing and the thresholds expanded for social housing. There is some appetite for it and around 40% of the applicants have been successful. 72 per cent of applicants are from Dublin, Kildare, Cork, Meath and Wicklow. However, I don't see that it is done much in places such as Leitrim or the West. It's been availed of because you talk to any young couple trying to start out and looking to build a home, there are huge levels of frustration and anxiety around how they are ever going to do that."

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The €740 million fund aims to bridge the gap between the available mortgage, deposit, and the price of the new home and in total, over 19,200 potential buyers or self-builders have registered their interest in the scheme. 

Cllr Fallon continued that the fact that it is a shared equity scheme also causes him concern. "The scheme takes an equity share in the property so I'd have concerns around that too. Again I think that reinforces the question 'Why are they not spending this money to buy more homes?'"

The fund provides on average €66,000 per property - 17 per cent of the average purchase price and extra €80 million in government funding, to top up the fund, which has been depleted by €273 million to fund 4,118 homes, has been announced.

Further, 66 percent of First Home Scheme users are also availing of the Help to Buy scheme.

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Cllr Ita Reynolds-Flynn also said that, in her view, the scheme "seems to have shortcomings in that the ceiling limits are not extended. Of course it is welcome to help people get on the property market sooner but it seems to be more suitable to houses outside the Dublin areas. However, any help for first-time buyers is welcome."