Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 February 2018
341. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the amount of funding being made available to Donegal County Council for the home loan scheme; the estimated number of persons that will qualify in County Donegal for the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5005/18]
View answerFollowing a review of the two existing local authority home loan schemes, the House Purchase Loan and the Home Choice Loan, I am introducing from today, 1 February 2018, a new loan offering, known as the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan. The new loan will enable credit worthy first time buyers to access sustainable mortgage lending to purchase new or second-hand properties in a suitable price range. The low rate of fixed interest associated with the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan provides first time buyers with access to mortgage finance that they may not otherwise have been able to afford at a higher interest rate. Full details of the loan's eligibility criteria and other information is available from the dedicated Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan website, http://rebuildingirelandhomeloan.ie/.
The Housing Finance Agency (HFA) has raised €200 million from a variety of sources on a fixed rate basis for periods out to thirty years maturity. Based on the pricing achieved, local authorities can offer a first tranche of fixed rate annuity finance to eligible borrowers at rates of 2.0% and 2.25% per annum, for twenty five and thirty years respectively, up to an aggregate maximum of €200 million.
The funding is not allocated to individual local authorities but rather will be drawn down by local authorities from the HFA to match-fund their lending, on a first come first served basis under the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan. Further tranches of loan finance will be secured by the HFA, as necessary. It is not possible to estimate the number of fixed rate loan applications per local authority under this loan.
