Housing Schemes

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 June 2022

Tuesday, 14 June 2022

Ceisteanna (388)

Niamh Smyth

Ceist:

388. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Finance the number of applications and the number of applications approved, respectively, to the help-to-buy scheme by county in each of the years since the introduction of the scheme to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29716/22]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Finance

Help to Buy (HTB) has a two main stages: the application stage and the claim stage. Compliant taxpayers who complete a HTB application are provided with an application number and a summary of the maximum relief available to them under the incentive. A mortgage provider, broker, qualifying contractor or solicitor can use this summary to verify the relief available to the applicant, for the purposes of mortgage approval or drawdown, or signing a house purchase contract.

An application will progress to the claim stage where the applicant decides to purchase a property that is eligible for the scheme. Many applications may never progress to the claim stage because the applicant does not purchase a property or purchases a property not eligible for the scheme.

I am advised by Revenue that a total of 82,900 HTB applications were submitted up to 2 June 2022, excluding cancelled applications.

An application will only progress to the final “claim” stage if and when the applicant decides to purchase a property that is eligible for the scheme. The table below sets out information in respect of the breakdown of HTB applications, by county and year in which the claim stage was reached and subsequently approved.

Property county	2022 to date	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	Total
Carlow	18	104	60	60	36	35	313
Cavan	22	86	68	60	40	34	310
Clare	33	166	104	126	74	60	563
Cork	367	1,099	804	804	563	509	4,146
Donegal	54	148	114	88	49	43	496
Dublin	486	1,107	1,145	1,679	1,574	1,974	7,965
Galway	119	415	331	290	218	201	1,574
Kerry	29	101	98	81	41	45	395
Kildare	398	992	771	675	472	514	3.822
Kilkenny	38	122	142	85	48	36	471
Laois	62	222	142	85	88	63	662
Leitrim/Longford*	20	58	41	43	34	31	227
Limerick	56	255	213	210	151	162	1,047
Louth	120	340	189	218	185	130	1,182
Mayo	70	160	131	144	78	64	647
Meath	282	865	746	845	585	599	3,922
Monaghan	28	99	66	67	43	30	333
Offaly	77	136	78	59	34	55	439
Roscommon	23	80	61	63	31	32	290
Sligo	23	74	37	54	39	26	253
Tipperary	35	132	95	112	84	83	541
Waterford	62	192	161	145	113	127	800
Westmeath	30	94	94	80	70	60	428
Wexford	109	295	168	191	98	64	925
Wicklow	70	307	224	305	211	258	1,375
Totals	2,631	7,649	6,083	6,569	4,959	5,235	33,126

* Figures for Leitrim and Longford are amalgamated due to the number of claims being fewer than 10 in some years. This is done to protect taxpayer confidentiality.