Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 471: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will indicate the number who have signed up to purchase their houses under the tenant purchase scheme with each local authority; the number who have been approved by each local authority; the number who have sought to purchase same by way of a mortgage secured through the local authority, and the number approved for such mortgages in each local authority area; the number of refusals in each local authority; if he will facilitate the securing of such loans by way of guarantees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5569/12]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Information on the sale of local authority houses to the end of 2009 is available on my Department's website www.environ.ie.

More recent information regarding the number of applications received under the 1995 and 2011 Tenant Purchase Schemes and currently under consideration in housing authorities is not yet available in my Department. Relevant statistics will be published in due course.

Information on loans sought from, approved or refused by local authorities for tenant purchases is not collected by my Department. I have no plans to secure such loans by way of guarantees.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 472: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if, in the context of the home choice mortgage scheme, in terms of take-up and approvals, he will take steps to put in place a more flexible scheme which will facilitate persons who wish to purchase their homes by this method; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5571/12]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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There are already two types of house purchase loan available from local authorities: standard annuity loans targeted at lower income first time buyers and those under the Home Choice Loan scheme which are available to qualifying middle income first time buyers affected by the "credit crunch".

The terms and conditions governing the operation, including eligibility terms, of annuity mortgages and the Home Choice Loan are set out under the Housing (Local Authority Loans) Regulations 2009 and the Housing (Home Choice Loan) Regulations 2009 respectively. These are available on my Department's website: www.environ.ie

To date 10 Home Choice Loans have been issued, with a total value of €2,007,080. A further 6 Home Choice Loans have been approved but not yet drawn down, with a total value of €1,192,840. The low rate of uptake suggests that access to credit is just one of a number of reasons for the low level of transactions in the housing market at present and that wider economic sentiment has a more significant impact on sentiment in the housing market.

It is not the intention of this scheme – or of any other Government intervention in the housing sector – to incentivise or entice people into the market. It is not intended therefore that the Home Choice loan would be modified to offer any such inducement or offer. It is designed only to facilitate credit worthy households who have been affected by conditions in the mortgage market.

As such, the scheme is a temporary one which will be withdrawn once conditions in credit markets return to normal patterns. Recent data published by the Central Bank would indicate that that point has not yet been reached.