Eoin Hayes (Dublin Bay South, Social Democrats)
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356. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide the average and median age of first-time buyers of residential property for the past ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66852/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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My Department does not collect the data sought.

Government is focused on increasing the national housing stock and ensuring a suitable range of housing, across tenure types, is available to all. The new housing plan Delivering Homes, Building Communities builds on the foundations laid under Housing for All and will deliver a minimum of 300,000 new homes, including record levels of new social homes, an ambitious nationwide Starter Homes Programme and the provision of additional delivery in the areas of Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) and vacant and derelict properties brought back into use, as set out in the Programme for Government.

This will have a meaningful impact on the housing market, increased supply will help dampen house price growth and ease affordability challenges across the country, and ensure that everyone has a range of housing options available to them, whether they want to buy a house, rent one, or are in need social housing. Measures such as the Local Authority Home Loan, the Local Authority Purchase and Renovation Scheme, the Help to Buy Incentive, First Home Scheme and the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant are also available to help make home ownership more affordable.

In this context, household buyers and particularly first-time buyer activity remains robust, with recent data showing the number of new homes purchased by first-time buyers increased 25% year-on-year in the 12-months to end September 2025. While Mortgage drawdowns increased 10% year-on-year in the 12-months ending Q3 2025 (c.45,700). More than 27,300 of these were drawn down by FTBs, an increase of 7% year-on-year. FTBs continued to be the most active segment in the market, accounting for 59.7% of drawdowns in the 12 months ending Q3 2025, these were the highest annualised FTB drawdowns since the 12 months ending Q4 2007.