IF YOU ARE looking to buy a house over the next year, you’ll be happy to hear about a new initiative Finance Minister Michael Noonan announced today.

As part of Budget 2015, he said first-time buyers will receive a refund of DIRT (Deposit Interest Retention Tax) on their savings, worth up to 20% of the purchase price. DIRT, at the rate of 41%, is currently deducted at source by banks from interest paid on savings.

This change essentially means that buyers will get back the the interest on the money they saved for the deposit for their new home. Noonan said he expects the banks to offer specific products for this section of the market.

The refund will apply from tonight and will run until the end of 2017.

In his Budget 2015 speech, the minister said the property market is “not currently meeting the needs of our citizens” and this is just one of the initiative being introduced to address this.

First published 3pm

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