Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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318. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if the term market value in 2.(1) of the eligibility criteria with respect to S.I. No. 183 of 2022, means the full price of the home including the purchase price and the affordable housing fund subsidy. [24711/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Affordable Housing Regulations 2022 were signed and came into effect on 13 April 2022. Made with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, the regulations deal with the assessment of eligibility for purchasing a new home under the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme.

These Regulations set out a household-specific and home-specific eligibility rule which assesses the applicant’s mortgage-funded purchasing capacity under the macro prudential rules and the cost of purchasing the home being made available at its open market value. This is important because the scheme provides that only those households with a demonstrated need will be supported and they will only be supported to the amount needed. Once eligibility based on need has been established, the local authority can determine the price to be paid by an eligible purchaser and the percentage equity interest to be taken in the home by the Local Authority.

With regard to Regulation 2(1), the 'market value' of an affordable dwelling is to be determined by the Local Authority pursuant to section 14 of the Affordable Housing Act 2021. Section 14 deals with the valuation of affordable dwelling for certain purposes, and 'market value' is defined as 'the price for which the affordable dwelling might reasonably be expected to be sold on the open market for the estate purchase by the homeowner, freed and discharged of any mortgage or incumbrance (including the affordable dwelling purchase arrangement)'. This is not the actual purchase price at which the affordable home will be made available for purchase by an eligible applicant, but rather the hypothetical price which someone would pay for unit on the open market.