Leo Varadkar said he would be open to expanding shared equity scheme
“If you were to extend it to second homes, it wouldn’t result in new homes being built. It might result in the price of second homes going up and there would be considerable cost to the exchequer. That’s why I’m disinclined to go for that, to be frank. One thing I’d be more well-disposed to would be seeing if we could extend the First Homes scheme to second-hand purchases. I think that is worthy of consideration. There might be a stronger case for doing that.
Under the First Homes scheme, the State takes an equity stake of up to 30 per cent – or typically up to 20 per cent for those also accessing the Help-to-Buy Scheme. To qualify, buyers must take out the maximum mortgage of four times their income. The scheme does involve some restrictions on homeowners and an obligation to pay a service charge, based on the equity stake, after year six.
Speaking about the potential upward revision of yearly housing targets, Mr Varadkar said he will favour this. “It involves both advice from the housing commission and also from ESRI as to whether we should revise our home building targets upwards. I think we should. I think we should aim to get to 40,000 sooner before the end of the decade and then go beyond 40,000.” He said this could result in more lands being zoned.
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