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Help-To-Buy Scheme Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 April 2017

Thursday, 13 April 2017

Ceisteanna (76)

Noel Rock

Ceist:

76. Deputy Noel Rock asked the Minister for Finance the estimated cost to date in 2017 and in previous years of the help-to-buy scheme. [18970/17]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

The Help to Buy incentive aims to both assist those first-time buyers struggling to save for the deposit required to purchase a home, as well as incentivising additional building and the provision of extra housing stock. At Budget time, my officials estimated that the Help to Buy incentive would cost €40 million per annum but €50 million in 2017, due to the backdating of the relief in respect of properties which became eligible for the scheme since 19 July 2016. The scheme did not give rise to an Exchequer cost prior to 2017.

To avail of the incentive involves two stages. Stage 1 is the Application Stage, wherein prospective applicants can query whether they qualify for the incentive. They can also get clarity on the maximum amount of rebate they could potentially benefit from, based on their tax paid in a four-year period. Stage 2 is the Claims Stage, wherein applicants that decide to proceed with purchasing or building a qualifying property must provide documentary evidence of the relevant property transaction or their mortgage draw down.

As of 6 April 2017, Revenue has received 5,018 applications to Stage 1 of the Help to Buy incentive. Of these, 1,149 Stage 2 claims have been created to date. 665 of these have been approved, at a total estimated cost to the Exchequer to date in the order of €10.2 million.

The deputy may wish to know that Revenue regularly publishes statistics on the Help to Buy incentive (including the estimated cost of the incentive) at

http://www.revenue.ie/en/about/statistics/htb-incentive-stats.html

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