Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 June 2018
215. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the reason the Central Bank deems a returning emigrant who never owned a residential property here but did abroad for a period as a non-first-time buyer; his views on whether this classification is unfair; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24792/18]
View answerThe Central Bank has advised that for the purposes of the Central Bank mortgage lending rules, a first time buyer is defined as a borrower to whom no housing loan has ever before been advanced. It also provides that where the borrower under a housing loan is more than one person and one or more of those persons has previously been advanced a housing loan, none of those persons is a first-time buyer.
The Central Bank also advised that it introduced proportionate limits specifically to allow a certain flexibility by lenders when assessing individual cases, such as may be the case in instances referred to in the question. The proportionate limits mean that lenders are able to make decisions based on an individual borrower’s circumstances up to a specific limit. In the case of second and subsequent buyers, lenders can in any year lend up to 20 per cent of the value of PDH mortgages at LTV levels in excess of the 80 per cent LTV cap which generally applies to such borrowers. Also, lenders will still be required to assess an individual borrower’s affordability and lend prudently on a case by case basis, in line with the requirements of the Consumer Protection Code and other regulations.
