The First Home Scheme pays up to 30% of the price of a new home in a private development, or of a self-build, in return for an equity share of the same percentage. The limit drops to 20% if you also use Help to Buy, and the home must sit under a price ceiling set for each local authority area (€500,000 in Dublin and Cork City, €375,000 in Carlow or Tipperary, as published on 6 October 2026). Budget 2027 (6 October 2026) did not change the scheme. For renters who want to buy: the rules, the ceilings, the service charge from year six, and how to buy the share back.
Published 2026-10-06. Rules and figures from firsthomescheme.ie, read on 2026-10-06.
What is the First Home Scheme?
It is a shared equity scheme funded by the Government (Department of Housing) and three participating lenders: AIB (with Haven and EBS), Bank of Ireland and PTSB. It is not a loan. You borrow the most your lender will give you, put in a 10% deposit, and if the price is still out of reach the scheme pays the gap and takes a percentage ownership in the home. A €35,000 contribution on a €350,000 home is a 10% share, and it stays 10% until you buy it back, so its euro value moves with the home.
Three products exist: New Build (a house or apartment in a private development), Self-build (on a site you own or are buying) and Tenant Home Purchase (buying the home you rent after a valid notice of termination because the landlord is selling). The minimum share is 2.5% of the price or €10,000, whichever is higher.
How much equity can the scheme take?
Up to 30% of the purchase price or build cost without Help to Buy, 20% with it. The scheme’s own example: on a €450,000 home the maximum is €135,000 without Help to Buy and €90,000 with it. The actual amount is only ever the shortfall between your deposit plus mortgage and the price. Tenant Home Purchase buyers cannot use Help to Buy (new builds only) and so can go to 30%.
What are the price ceilings?
Your price, or self-build cost, must be at or below the ceiling for the local authority area. The scheme reviews the ceilings regularly; these are the figures on its site on 6 October 2026.
| Local authority area | House and self-build | Apartment |
|---|
| Dublin City, Fingal, South Dublin, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Cork City, Wicklow | €500,000 | €500,000 |
| Galway City, Kildare, Meath | €475,000 | €475,000 |
| Cork County, Galway County, Limerick | €450,000 | €450,000 |
| Kerry, Louth, Mayo | €425,000 | €425,000 |
| Waterford | €400,000 | €450,000 |
| Clare, Donegal, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath, Wexford | €400,000 | €400,000 |
| Carlow, Cavan, Longford, Monaghan, Offaly, Tipperary | €375,000 | €375,000 |
Waterford is the one area where apartments carry a higher ceiling than houses. For a self-build the ceiling covers every cost of finishing the house, including connection, council and professional fees.
Who is eligible?
- Over 18, and a first-time buyer: never bought or built a home anywhere, and no interest in any dwelling now (farmland or the site you will build on do not count). People whose relationship has ended with no interest left in the old home, or who lost a home through insolvency, also qualify.
- Mortgage approval in principle with a participating lender, borrowing the maximum available to you (up to four times income), with no macro-prudential exception.
- A deposit of at least 10%. Help to Buy can form part of it; for a self-build, the value of your site can.
- The home will be your principal private residence, in the Republic of Ireland, under the price ceiling.
There is no income limit in either direction. The scheme cannot be used with the Affordable Home Purchase Scheme (the council starter homes listed on this site) or the Local Authority Home Loan. It can be used with Help to Buy. The scheme’s eligibility calculator shows the minimum and maximum it could fund; for a council home, the purchase calculator on this site does the equivalent sum.
How do you apply?
- Get mortgage approval in principle from AIB, Haven, EBS, Bank of Ireland or PTSB, valid for at least eight weeks.
- Register on the scheme’s customer portal and upload the approval, photo ID and address proof for every buyer. You need the local authority area, not yet the exact house, and can reissue a Preliminary Certificate until you decide.
- Once you have chosen the home, the lender and whether you use Help to Buy, submit. An approved application gets an Eligibility Certificate, valid as long as your approval in principle. It is an estimate, not an offer.
- Give it to your lender; the letter of offer confirms the mortgage and the scheme amount. Upload that too.
- Sign the Customer Contract with your solicitor, who registers an inhibition on the title. The scheme pays your solicitor alongside the mortgage drawdown. Self-builders need half the funded works certified complete and must draw the money within 12 months of signing.
What does it cost, and how do you buy the share back?
No fees for the first five years. From the start of year six a service charge runs on the equity: 1.75% a year in years 6 to 15, 2.15% in years 16 to 29, 2.85% from year 30, fixed for life and calculated on the original price times the share. On a €400,000 home with a 10% share that is €700 in year six. You can pay monthly or defer; a deferred charge keeps accruing and falls due when you redeem in full, sell or move out.
You can redeem all or part of the share whenever you like. You must redeem in full if you sell, stop living there, switch to a lender outside the scheme, or when the last owner dies. A partial redemption is at least 5% of the original equity amount, at most twice in 12 months. Within six months of drawdown you repay what you received; after that a valuation from a scheme-approved valuer, paid for by you, sets the figure. A 10% share on a home bought at €350,000 and now valued at €400,000 costs €40,000 to clear, plus any unpaid service charge. If prices fall, the figure falls too. Value added by an extension, an accessibility adaptation or a two-grade BER upgrade is left out.
Where this leaves a renter
If a bank will lend you four times income and a new home in your area sits under the ceiling, the First Home Scheme is the private-development route. If a council is selling starter homes where you live, that is the other route, with no service charge, and the two cannot be mixed. Both take Help to Buy. The comparison of all six schemes sets them side by side; if neither works yet, the cost rental income check shows whether the renting scheme is open to you.
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