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SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY Council has said it has raised €15 million in loans from the Housing Finance Agency to provide first-time buyers access to a government loan scheme.
It comes as a relief to prospective homeowners who had been left in limbo after it was feared a lack of funding could scupper the loan scheme.
The demand was such for the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan (RIHL) scheme announced by the government in early 2018 that the Department of Housing sought a further €600 million to keep running the scheme through to 2021.
The RIHL is a government-backed mortgage for first-time buyers which you can avail of through your local authority. First-time-buyers can borrow up to 90% of the market value of the property, with maximum market values set at €320,000 in the counties of Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow, and €250,000 in the rest of the country.
However, due to the lack of clarity over future funding for the scheme, it left some families that met the criteria unable to draw down the loans in recent months.
One such prospective homeowner who was awaiting the approval told TheJournal.ie last month that he and his family were left “stuck” if they weren’t able to avail of the scheme in the near future.
And, in the Dáil, Fianna Fáil’s Darragh O’Brien said South Dublin County Council hadn’t permitted drawdown of the loans since December.
“People are making loan applications but are unsure whether they will ever be able to get to the stage of drawdown,” he said. “We need to clear this up once and for all.”
Earlier this week, Roscommon County Council confirmed it had taken out funds to the tune of €1.5 million to fund the scheme in its area.
In a statement today, South Dublin County Council confirmed it had received additional funds to help fund the scheme.
It said: “Elected members in South Dublin County Council approved raising the €15 million loan at the monthly council meeting when it was held earlier this week.
“The Council previously sanctioned €10m of this allocation at the 2018 June Council Meeting, bringing the overall total sought by South Dublin County Council to €25 million for the scheme.
To date, the Council has approved 113 applications and applications are still being accepted under the scheme.
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15 million, should get at least three 1 bed apartments out of that. Fair play.
@baz brock: pity there’s no fcuking houses to buy!
Maximum market value of €320000 in Dublin, and on the Southside?. What’s happens in the event you need a house bigger than a van.
@vfagan: Buy in a location that you can afford.
@Mick paisley: whoosh.
@Mick paisley: ooooh scorpy hole, relax. I’m in a fine house for 10 years now.
But don’t be ignorant. There are plenty of people out there who HAVE to live in certain locations for work, or else commute long distance. So hold your horses keyboard warrior.
@vfagan: Plenty of places in southside that you can buy a house for that much, even more if it’s an apartment.
@vfagan: I commute huge distances to work, I know all about it. Dublin 2, or 4 would be ideal for my job, but unfortunately I don’t earn a 6 figure salary, so I live in the sticks and get up at 5 am.
I support any initiative that helps people who can afford the mortgage to buy a Home to call there own but the very low interest rates on offer with scheme are extremely unfair to those of people who have worked so hard and sacrificed so much to get into a position of meeting the bank lending criteria.
On average people are paying almost 1 percent more in interest with the banks well as having the stress of interest rate increases over the life of mortgage. This scheme is actually penalising people for bettering themselves in life and for been relatively successful in working up to good salary.
@Brian: The banks are ripping you off pal vent your anger were it belongs and not at people struggling in the world.
@Peter Hughes: Not anger as doesn’t impact me, just expressing my opinion. Agree with you on the Banks ripping us off but when the government refuse your application because you earn too much then where else are people suppose to go.
If folks spend more time up skilling to get a better job or held off having multiple kids before trying for a mortgage rather than with their hand out looking for help from the government then the scheme wouldn’t be nesscesary at the level it is.
More money for the bottom feeders? Anything for normal tax paying workers by any chance other than tenement “co-living” shoeboxes?
So 15m divided by average house price in South Dublin (Journal.ie March 2019) of 407500 means 36/37 houses can be bought on this scheme.
@David Connolly: it’s for 1st times buyers, giving over 400k to 1st time buyers was a huge factor in the mess we got in 10 years ago.
Excellent news.. helps people buy homes … has to be good …
Houses in South Dublin are way more than that treshold
This scheme was in place prior to 2018 and the deposit needed was only 5%. All qualifying criteria were the same.
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