Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 May 2015
294. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Finance his plans to introduce an affordable housing mortgage scheme to assist families in negative equity who are in accommodation which is too small for their needs in order to enable them to move to more suitable accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18612/15]
View answerIssues relating to affordable housing and State supported affordable mortgages are, in the first instance, a matter for the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.
In terms of the commercial mortgage lending market, these lending institutions are independent commercial entities and the Deputy will appreciate that it is a matter for such financial institutions to consider what products they wish to make available to their customers. However, I note that a number of commercial credit institutions have introduced products to assist borrowers who are in negative equity and who wish to move to a new home.
To further assist people in negative equity to move to a new home, it should be noted that the recently introduced Central Bank macro prudential regulations on residential mortgage lending have excluded a primary home borrower from the loan to value part of the regulations so as to avoid unduly limiting the mobility options for borrowers in negative equity.
While the financial and property downturn unfortunately resulted in many borrowers experiencing negative equity, the overall economic improvement since then has had a positive impact on the situation of many mortgage holders and the Government intends to continue to work to maintain a sustainable economic recovery.
