The First Home Scheme allows you to purchase a qualifying house or apartment in a private development or to build a house on your own site. Property price ceilings per local authority area apply to houses, apartments, and self-builds. In some local authority areas, the property type price ceilings may differ.
In order to qualify for the FHS, the purchase price of your property or self-build cost must be equal to or below the property price ceiling for the local authority area in which the property is located.
The FHS property price ceilings are regularly reviewed and may be subject to change. The property price ceilings are as follows:
| Local Authority Area | House Price Ceilings | Apartment Price Ceilings | Self-Build Price Ceilings |
|---|---|---|---|
Cork City |
€475,000 |
€500,000 |
€475,000 |
Limerick City and County |
€400,000 |
€450,000 |
€400,000 |
Waterford City and County |
€375,000 |
€450,000 |
€375,000 |
| Local Authority Area | House/Apartment Price Ceilings | Self-Build Price Ceilings |
|---|---|---|
Wicklow County |
€475,000 |
€475,000 |
Galway City |
€450,000 |
€450,000 |
Cork County |
€425,000 |
€425,000 |
Galway County |
€400,000 |
€400,000 |
Kilkenny County |
€375,000 |
€375,000 |
Clare County |
€350,000 |
€350,000 |
Carlow County |
€325,000 |
€325,000 |
WARNING: We strongly recommend that you seek advice from an independent financial adviser and legal adviser if applying for this product.
WARNING: Property prices can go up and down. As the equity facility is linked to the value of your home, any change in property prices will affect any partial or final redemption amounts. If property prices increase/decrease over time, the percentage equity you have to redeem will remain the same but the € amount will increase/decrease. See examples in the case of a price increase below:
Example 1: Home Purchase (private development)
Customer purchases a property for €250,000, availing of €25,000 from the First Home Scheme (FHS) which means the FHS has a 10% FHS equity share in your home.
Sometime in the future you decide to buy out the FHS equity share. The home is now valued at €350,000. As the FHS equity share is unchanged at 10%, you will now need €35,000 plus any accrued service charges payable, to redeem the FHS equity share in the home.
Example 2: Self-build (own site)
Customer owns a site valued at €100,000 and builds a house on that site at a cost of €300,000.
Customer avails of €30,000 from the First Home Scheme (FHS) which means the FHS has a 10% FHS equity share in your house built on the site.
Sometime in the future you decide to buy out the FHS equity share. The property, including both house and original site is now valued at €500,000.
At the time of build, the site value represented 25% of the total value of the home (i.e.€100,000) and this 25% will now be discounted from the current value before calculating the FHS Equity amount to be redeemed (€500,000 less current site value of €125,000, equals €375,000). As the FHS equity share is unchanged at 10%, you will now need €37,500 (10% of €375,000) plus any accrued service charges payable, to redeem the FHS equity share in the home.
WARNING: The First Home Scheme is not regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland and the equity product is not governed by the Central Bank and its statutory codes of conduct and/or other regulations to include the Consumer Protection Code. However, this does not affect your rights under consumer law.
