First Home Scheme

The First Home Scheme (FHS) is an affordable housing scheme, which supports people to buy new homes. The FHS is a shared equity scheme, where the State and participating banks pay up to 30% of the cost of your new home in return for a stake in the home. If you want, you can buy back the stake at any time, but you don’t have to.

The scheme is available nationwide for first-time buyers and certain other people who want to buy a new home but can’t afford to. Your income is not assessed for the FHS.

There is a similar local authority affordable home scheme where the local authority buys a stake in your home. However, this scheme only applies in certain areas.

Do you Qualify?

To qualify for the First Home Scheme, you must meet certain criteria.

• You must be a first-time buyer or ‘fresh start’ applicant buying a new home
• Your home must be within the price limits for your area

For the full list visit CitizensInformation.ie

Your mortgage:

You must borrow the maximum amount available to you from one of these lenders. Under Central Bank rules, the limit for mortgage borrowing for first-time buyers is 4 times your gross annual income. If you are a non-first-time home buyer, the limit is 3.5 times your gross annual income