LAST UPDATE | 13 May 2025

THE FIRST HOME Scheme is to be extended for another two years at Cabinet today. 

Housing Minister James Browne will also seek approval for an additional €30 million in funding for the scheme, which will match commitments by the banks participating in the scheme.

The First Home Scheme is a shared equity scheme for first-time buyers that involves the government and participating banks paying up to 30% of the cost of the home in exchange for a stake in it, which can later be bought back by the home buyer.

Currently, the scheme is only available to first-time buyers who are purchasing a newly built property or building their own.

Following today’s approval, the scheme will be in operation for another two years until 1 June 2027. 

However, Sinn Féin has said that extending the scheme will worsen the housing crisis.

Speaking to reporters outside Leinster House this morning, the party’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin called the government’s decision “a mistake”. 

“One of the reasons why so many people are locked out of being able to buy their own home is house prices are going upwards. The First Home Scheme contributes to that,” he said. 

“It’s not the only factor, but it’s one of them. Therefore, anything that contributes to putting upward pressure on house prices is a problem for me.”

Ó Broin said the government needs to focus on the delivery of “large volumes of genuinely affordable homes for working people to buy at prices that are genuinely affordable”.

Today’s announcement isn’t going to make anything better. In fact, it’s going to make things worse.

Many experts agree that in a constrained housing market, incentives like Help to Buy and the First Home Shared Equity scheme do lead to house price inflation.

Second-hand homes

During the election, the former housing minister Darragh O’Brien along with Taoiseach Micheál Martin spoke in favour of expanding the scheme to include second-hand homes. 

Fine Gael also pledged to broaden the First Home Scheme so that first-time buyers purchasing a second-hand home are eligible for the support.

The programme for government includes a commitment to expand the scheme for first-time buyers of second hand homes, while also promising to increase targets and extend the supports out to 2030. 

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The housing minister told The Journal last week that such a move is being examined, stating that concerns have been raised that expanding the programme out to second-hand homes could increase house prices. 

“Some people feel that it would actually increase the prices for those properties. So we’re examining it. It’s not something that’s going to be done in the immediacy, but it is examined as part of the new housing plan,” said Browne. 

Such concerns have been raised by members of the opposition in the past. 

The First Home Scheme progress report for Q1 2025 noted that since its launch to the end of the first quarter 15,356 people have registered for the scheme. 

There have been 6,774 approvals for individuals or families for the scheme with 3,323 drawdowns used to finance the purchase of new home.

The government’s new housing plan which is set to outline further housing interventions is due to be published in July.