The Local Authority Home Loan has been available nationwide from local authorities since 4 January 2022. Prior to that, the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan was the mortgage available from local authorities. As of 4 January 2022, no new Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan applications are being accepted, although applications already in process are being honoured.
The Housing Agency provides a central support service that assesses applications for the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan, and its successor the Local Authority Home Loan scheme, on behalf of local authorities and makes recommendations to the authorities to approve or refuse applications.
Each local authority must have in place a credit committee and it is a matter for the committee to make the decision on applications for loans, in accordance with the Regulations establishing the scheme and the Credit Policy that under pins the scheme, having regard to the recommendations made by the Housing Agency.
The most recent figures provided by the Housing Agency on the number of Local Authority Home Loan applications that it has assessed and recommended for decline from local authorities for 2022 up to the end of July are set out in the below table.
|
Local Authority
|
Applications Assessed
|
Recommended to Decline
|
|
Carlow County Council
|
23
|
15
|
|
Cavan County Council
|
6
|
2
|
|
Clare County Council
|
23
|
12
|
|
Cork City Council
|
42
|
27
|
|
Cork County Council
|
156
|
104
|
|
Donegal County Council
|
9
|
3
|
|
Dublin City Council
|
135
|
51
|
|
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council
|
32
|
19
|
|
Fingal County Council
|
91
|
35
|
|
Galway City Council
|
36
|
11
|
|
Galway County Council
|
65
|
37
|
|
Kerry County Council
|
45
|
32
|
|
Kildare County Council
|
64
|
39
|
|
Kilkenny County Council
|
29
|
9
|
|
Laois County Council
|
39
|
25
|
|
Leitrim County Council
|
11
|
7
|
|
Limerick City & County Council
|
42
|
22
|
|
Longford County Council
|
25
|
9
|
|
Louth County Council
|
99
|
69
|
|
Mayo County Council
|
22
|
10
|
|
Meath County Council
|
86
|
26
|
|
Monaghan County Council
|
29
|
20
|
|
Offaly County Council
|
8
|
5
|
|
Roscommon County Council
|
24
|
19
|
|
Sligo County Council
|
23
|
15
|
|
South Dublin County Council
|
97
|
53
|
|
Tipperary County Council
|
26
|
15
|
|
Waterford City & County Council
|
78
|
69
|
|
Westmeath County Council
|
18
|
6
|
|
Wexford County Council
|
50
|
28
|
|
Wicklow County Council
|
69
|
39
|
|
Total
|
1502
|
833
|
My Department regularly publishes information on the number and value of (i) local authority loan approvals and (ii) local authority loan drawdowns. Local authority approval means that an official letter of offer has been sent to a borrower (and therefore relates to a specific property and loan amount).
Information on drawdowns, approvals, average drawdowns, and average approvals for both the LAHL and RIHL up to Q1 2022 is available at the following link, which will be updated as soon as figures are available:
www.gov.ie/en/collection/42d2f-local-authority-loan-activity/#local-authority-loans-approvedpaid
To support prudential lending, applicants must have a deposit equivalent to at least 10% of the purchase price of the property. Of this deposit, cash savings should provide no less than 3% of the purchase price of the property and applicants must provide bank or similar statements for a 12-month period immediately prior to making an application clearly showing a credible and consistent track record of savings. Gifts can comprise the remaining 7% of the purchase price of the property where their source is verified. I have no plans to change the deposit or savings requirements for the scheme.
The availability of the Help to Buy scheme for first-time buyers offers additional assistance to purchasers using the Local Authority Home Loan to buy newly built properties. This should alleviate some of the challenges faced by first-time buyers in accessing the 10% deposit of the purchase price of the property.
