First Home Scheme reaches 5,000 purchases as average support tops €66,000
State-backed shared equity scheme provides €330m in funding as supply constraints limit take-up in some counties
24 February 2026 | 📧 editor@ipropertyradio.com
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director
The State’s First Home Scheme has reached 5,000 completed home purchases since its launch in July 2022, with more than €330 million provided in shared equity support to buyers.
The scheme, which is funded with €740 million, gives the State an equity stake of up to 30% in a newly built home to bridge the gap between a buyer’s mortgage, deposit and the purchase price. The equity is interest-free for the first six years.
Almost four in 10 of all supported purchases have taken place in the past 12 months, indicating an acceleration in take-up. A total of 9,000 applicants across all 26 counties have been approved for eligibility certificates since the scheme began.
Under the scheme’s reporting structure, a joint application is counted as one purchase. The 5,000 drawdowns therefore represent around 8,000 individuals, comprising approximately 2,000 single buyers and 3,000 joint buyer households.
The average property price for homes purchased using the scheme is €389,000. The average equity contribution from the State is €66,000, representing 17% of the typical purchase price. More than six in 10 participants have also used the Help-to-Buy scheme, which provides a tax rebate of up to €30,000.
The initiative is a joint venture between the State and three lenders — AIB (including EBS and Haven), Bank of Ireland and PTSB — and remains open to other authorised mortgage lenders.
Geographically, the majority of drawdowns have been concentrated in Dublin (1,234), Cork (747) and Kildare (706), with further activity in Meath and Wicklow. In contrast, take-up has been limited in counties with low levels of new housing supply, including Longford (2), Leitrim (4), Kerry (6) and Roscommon (11).
First Home Scheme chief executive Michael Broderick said the 5,000th drawdown was a significant milestone, though he acknowledged that new housing supply remains a constraint in some areas. The scheme has a target of supporting 8,000 new-build purchases within five years of launch and is described as being on track.
Citing a KPMG study, the scheme’s operators have said there is no evidence that it has contributed materially to inflation in new home prices, though they accept it may have some limited impact.
The scheme is open to first-time buyers and certain fresh start applicants purchasing or self-building new homes, subject to local authority price ceilings. Buyers must secure mortgage approval from a participating lender before qualifying.
With median house prices last year reported at €500,000 in Dublin and €387,000 nationally, the scheme’s average supported purchase price of €389,000 reflects its positioning in the new-build market.
