Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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360. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he plans to review the house price limits for local authority mortgages in view of the rising cost of new homes. [15109/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Local Authority Home Loan is a Government backed mortgage for those on modest or low incomes who cannot get sufficient funding from commercial banks to purchase or build a home. It has been available nationwide from local authorities since 4 January 2022. The loan can be used both for new and second-hand properties, or to self-build. It is the successor to the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan.

It is available for first-time buyers and fresh start applicants and can also be used for the purchase of homes through State schemes such as the Tenant Purchase Scheme and Affordable Housing Schemes, with the exception of the First Home Scheme. 

The Scheme supports home ownership amongst lower to moderate income households by reducing the cost of mortgage finance and increasing the level of financing available, particularly for single applicants in urban areas.

The maximum market values of the property that can be purchased or self-built are:

- €320,000in the counties of Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow, and

- €250,000in the rest of the country.

This limits the amount that can be borrowed to no more than €288,000in the counties Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow and no more than €225,000in the rest of the country.

While there are no plans at present to change the house price limits, this situation will be kept under review. It should also be noted that the Local Authority Home Loan is available for both new and secondhand homes.

Further information on the scheme is available on the dedicated websites:

localauthorityhomeloan.ie/ and www.gov.ie/en/service/00500-local-authority-home-loan-scheme/ .