First Home Scheme

An affordable housing scheme, which supports people to buy new homes.

The First Home Scheme (FHS) is an affordable housing scheme, which supports people to buy new homes. The FHS is a shared equity scheme, where the State and participating banks pay up to 30% of the cost of your new home in return for a stake in the home. If you want, you can buy back the stake at any time, but you don’t have to.

The scheme is available nationwide for first-time buyers and certain other people who want to buy a new home but can’t afford to. Your income is not assessed for the FHS.

There is a similar local authority affordable home scheme where the local authority buys a stake in your home. However, this scheme only applies in certain areas.

Do you Qualify?

To qualify for the First Home Scheme, you must meet certain criteria.

  • You must be a first-time buyer or ‘fresh start’ applicant buying a new home
  • Your home must be within the price limits for your area

For the full list visit CitizensInformation.ie

Your mortgage:

You must borrow the maximum amount available to you from one of these lenders. Under Central Bank rules, the limit for mortgage borrowing for first-time buyers is 4 times your gross annual income. If you are a non-first-time home buyer, the limit is 3.5 times your gross annual income