Cost Rental Radar is an independent guide to cost rental and affordable purchase housing in Ireland, run by Avlas Digital, a small Irish web business. It is not connected to the Housing Agency, the Land Development Agency, any local authority or approved housing body, and it does not take or process applications.
What it does
- Lists every scheme advertised on the official Starter Home Supports portal (newstarterhomes.ie, Housing Agency), with the status, dates, rents and provider link shown there, and checks that portal every 15 minutes.
- Sends free email alerts when a scheme in your county is announced, opens, or is about to open.
- Estimates eligibility using the published rules (net income limits, 35% rule, household size; 4x income and the 85.5% and 95% caps for purchase) and 2026 tax figures from Revenue and gov.ie.
- Explains the process and the documents in plain English.
What it does not do
- Decide eligibility. Only the provider does that, from your documents. Our calculators say “likely”, “borderline” or “unlikely” for a reason.
- Guarantee a listing is complete or current. Providers occasionally publish on their own site before the national portal, and dates change. Always confirm on the provider’s page linked from each scheme.
- Give legal or financial advice.
Sources
- Housing Agency: Starter Home Supports portal (all schemes, dates and prices)
- Housing Agency: Cost Rental FAQ (income limits, documents, household size)
- Housing Agency: Starter Home Purchase Scheme FAQ (4x income, 85.5% and 95% rules)
- Citizens Information: Cost rental housing
- Revenue: tax rates, bands and credits 2026
- Revenue: USC rates and thresholds 2026
- gov.ie: PRSI Class A rates 2026
- Affordable Housing Act 2021
Rules and figures were last checked on 2026-09-07. Scheme data is refreshed continuously. Spotted an error? Email [email protected].
Scheme information is public sector information published by the Housing Agency and reused with attribution. Contains Irish Public Sector Data licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.