Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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379. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of applications for the shared equity local scheme; the number of approvals; if he will provide a breakdown of approvals by loan-to-value at 90%, 85%, 80%, 75%, 70%; if he will provide a breakdown of draw-downs by loan-to-value at 90%, 85%, 80%, 75%, 70%; the average house price for all approved applications; and the average house price for all draw-downs in tabular form. [54606/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The First Home Scheme, launched on 7 July this year, supports first-time buyers in purchasing new houses and apartments in the private market through the use of an equity share model. Full details of the First Home Scheme, including details of the price ceilings, are available on the scheme website: www.firsthomescheme.ie.

The First Home Scheme DAC is responsible for the operation, and official reporting, of the First Home Scheme on behalf of all shareholders. However, I am in a position to make the following information available, from First Home Scheme’s first quarterly report which covers the period from First Home’s launch on July 7th to October 6th:

- 508 buyers in 23 counties have been approved by the Scheme and have received eligibility certificates which will allow them to proceed towards purchasing their chosen home. (A joint application is counted as one buyer, not two).

- A further 203 applications are currently being processed, with approvals expected to issue shortly in most of these cases.

- A total of 1,862 potential buyers have registered their interest in the Scheme (823 individual buyers and 1,039 couples)

- The 508 eligibility certificates have been approved for homes with an average purchase price of €359,000.

- 66% of the eligibility certificates approved have been for properties in Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow, with the remaining 34% spread across 19 counties throughout Ireland.

- The average support so far provided by First Home to customers at draw down is €79,000.

- The First Home Scheme will complete its review of the price cap in each local authority area (a measure to prevent distortion in each local housing market) in the coming weeks and announce the outcome of this review in January.

Approvals by county are as follows: