900 homes bought in Waterford through Help to Buy scheme 

900 people in Waterford have been enabled to buy a home through the Help to Buy scheme since the start of 2020.

The Minister of Finance Jack Chambers revealed the number of people who have been helped under the scheme since July 1, 2020, when a temporary enhancement to the scheme was announced by the government. Under the improved HTB scheme, first-time house buyers can claim a maximum of €30,000 in tax relief under the scheme.

In Waterford alone, 900 people have been helped by the scheme, which provides tax relief to help people to get together the mortgage to purchase or build their first home. The scheme is available for first-time property purchasers and builders of new homes and apartments.

Roughly 55% of applicants to be covered under the tax relief were accepted, 900 successful out of 1626 applications under the scheme.

The majority of accepted claims were for newly built houses or apartments, 661, with only a small number of claims for self-built homes, 229.

Across the country a total of 32,062 people have received help under the scheme. Three in four of those applications were for newly built homes  - 24,055 - against self-built homes - 8,007. The most claims in Ireland were in Dublin where 4,672 people received tax relief support.

The Help to Buy scheme is an incentive for first-time property purchasers. The scheme aims to help first-time home buyers with the deposit needed to purchase or self-build a new house or apartment. Help to Buy began in January 2017.

The government recently announced that Help to Buy will be extended to the end of 2029 the Minister for Finance Jack Chambers has confirmed, which he said will give certainty to future home buyers and to the market.

Minister Chambers noted that since its introduction, Help to Buy has enabled more than 50,000 individuals or couples to buy their own homes.