ONE YEAR ON from the launch of the Government’s shared equity First Home Scheme, just 474 homes have been delivered to date.

Figures released by the Department of Housing today show that in total, 1,983 buyers have been approved by the scheme and have received eligibility certificates allowing them to buy their chosen home. 

Of these, 474 buyers have completed the purchase of their home. 

On top of the almost 2,000 approvals to the scheme, an additional 418 applications are currently being processed.

The scheme aims to help people buy a home by providing part of the purchase price in return for a minority equity stake in the property. 

Minister of Housing Darragh O’ Brien previously said that the target was for 2,000 homes to be delivered under the €400mn scheme each year for the first three years. 

Just under 5,000 potential buyers have registered their interest in the scheme to date, with over 2,500 of these submitted so far in 2023.

The average purchase price for completed purchases was €372,000  while the average support provided to users of the scheme was €68,000, equating to an 18% stake in the property.

Some 80% of approvals have been for buyers in Dublin, Cork, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow, with the remaining 20% spread across 19 counties throughout Ireland.

Minister of Housing Darragh O’Brien said the scheme has been “very successful” so far. 

“In just one year the First Home Scheme has proven very successful with hundreds of people buying their own home with the help of the scheme. It really is a game-changer for first-time buyers and I’m expecting thousands more people to benefit from it,” the minister said.

O’Brien noted that the scheme was extended earlier this year to include renters who have been served a notice of termination from their landlords. 

“This is a great option and I’d encourage everyone who’s in this situation to see what the Scheme can do for them,” O’Brien said.

Launched last July, the scheme aims to help first-time buyers bridger the gap between their mortgage, deposit and the price of a new home.

The scheme is a joint venture between the state and three banks, currently AIB, BOI and Permanent TSB, and remains open to other authorised mortgage lenders in the Irish market to join the scheme.

Users of the scheme can reduce their mortgage requirement by up to 30% by giving up a share of equity in the property which can be bought back at a later date.

The scheme is also open to people who are buying a home after a marriage breakdown or those who have undergone personal insolvency or bankruptcy.

Also commenting on today’s figures, First Home CEO, Michael Broderick, said the schmes has had “a very strong start”. 

“We’re delighted to have helped so many people throughout Ireland to buy their first home over the past year and we’re planning to help thousands more in the months and years ahead.

“We’re encouraging every first-time buyer to consider using the scheme and the benefits it can bring them – we’ve already made a real difference for buyers in 20 counties and we have the capacity and the appetite to expand our reach further,” he added.

Breakdown of live approvals by county

Under the scheme, a live approval is an approval that has not expired or been withdrawn by the customer.

Of the 1,983 approvals that have been provided by the First Home Scheme since launch, 1,752 are currently live.

Opposition reaction

Members of the opposition have previously been highly critical of the scheme.

Social Democrats housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan has previously called for the scheme to be scrapped over concerns it will inflate house prices. 

Likewise, Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó’Broin described the scheme as a “pro-developer scam” and warned that it would push up house prices and saddle people with “ever greater levels of debt”.

Commenting on today’s figures, Ó’Broin said that the scheme is currently under-performing and is “not meeting anything close to the targets that the Government wanted”.

More broadly, Ó’Broin said he remains concerned that the scheme will add additional pressures to house prices. 

He noted that the latest CSO figures released yesterday show that prices of new build houses are increasing at three times the speed of second hand homes. 

“All of that leads me to the same position I had before, which is that it’s a bad scheme, it’s the wrong use of public money. The money should be used to deliver lower-priced homes that more people can actually afford,” Ó’Broin told The Journal.

Also speaking to The Journal today, Cian O’Callaghan noted that last year only 323 affordable homes were delivered and said that there is a “compelling case” for a radical expansion of affordable purchase housing. 

“We’ve seen with the various subsidies that the Government has introduced that developers’ profits have increased without housing becoming more affordable,” he said.

The Dublin Bay North TD added: “With almost €1bn in the Department of Housing’s capital budget unspent in the last few years, this money could and should be be used to ensure that thousands of affordable purchase homes are delivered.”