Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 September 2022
184. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Finance if he intends to extend eligibility for the help-to-buy scheme to pre-owned homes for first-time buyers in rural areas given that the availability of new homes is much lower in rural areas than in rural areas and therefore current scheme guidelines may reduce accessibility to the scheme for first-time buyers in rural communities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45347/22]
View answerThe Help to Buy incentive is a scheme to assist first-time purchasers with the deposit they need to buy or build a new house or apartment. The incentive gives a refund on Income Tax and Deposit Interest Retention Tax paid in the State over the previous four years, subject to limits outlined in Section 477C Taxes Consolidation Act 1997.
An increase in the supply of new housing remains a priority aim of Government policy. For this reason, HTB is specifically designed to encourage an increase in demand for new build homes in order to support the construction of an additional supply of such properties. For a property to qualify for HTB, it must be new or converted for use as a dwelling, having not been previously been used as a dwelling.
A move to include properties which previously used as a residential home/second-hand properties within the scope of the scheme itself would not improve the effectiveness of the relief; on the contrary, it could serve to dilute the incentive effect of the measure in terms of encouraging additional supply. Extending the HTB scheme in this way would provide no incentive effect to encourage the building of new homes and would be likely to have a significant dead-weight element and a high Exchequer cost.
As the Deputy may be aware, a review of the scheme has been undertaken by external consultants. Following that, decisions about the future of the scheme beyond its current sunset date of 31 December 2022 will be taken in the context of Budget 2023.
As we are less than two weeks out from the Budget, it would be inappropriate for me to offer further comment on the matter at this time.
