First-time buyer schemes compared in Ireland
Last updated: 18 October 2026
Help to Buy, the First Home Scheme and the Local Authority Home Loan compared: who each one is for, what they pay, and which combinations are allowed.
Three different kinds of help
A first-time buyer in Ireland can be looking at three supports that do not do the same job. Help to Buy is a Revenue refund of income tax and DIRT. The First Home Scheme is a shared-equity stake funded by the State and participating banks. The Local Authority Home Loan is a mortgage from the local authority, at a fixed rate, for people who cannot get enough from a commercial lender. You can combine some of them. You cannot combine all of them.
I have kept the local price ceilings of the First Home Scheme off this page. They differ by area and I am not copying a table I have not checked line by line against the scheme’s current list. The shares and the combinations below are the parts the scheme’s own pages state in a single rule.
How it's calculated
Help to Buy pays the lowest of the cap, 10% of the purchase value or approved valuation, and income tax plus DIRT paid in the four years before you apply. From 2026-10-07 the cap is €35,000 where the contract is signed, or the first self-build drawdown is made, on or after that date and by 31 December 2029. The price or valuation cannot be more than €500,000. The mortgage must be at least 70% of that value. Citizens Information says equity from the First Home Scheme is not counted in that 70%. Only the mortgage is.
The First Home Scheme can fund between 2.5% and 30% of a new home if you are not using Help to Buy. If you are using Help to Buy, the scheme’s own questions page cuts the maximum to 20%. On a €450,000 home that is €135,000 without Help to Buy and €90,000 with it. gov.ie describes it as a stake you can buy back. There is no service charge for the first five years. You need a mortgage from a participating lender for the maximum you are allowed to borrow, and at least a 10% deposit. The home has to be a new build or a self-build inside the local price limit, and you live in it.
The Local Authority Home Loan can be up to 90% of the market value. Citizens Information says that from 1 April 2026 the income limit is €80,000 for a single applicant and €85,000 for joint applicants. The same page’s property ceilings from that date are €415,000 in Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow, €375,000 in Cork, Galway city and Meath, €345,000 in Galway county, Louth, Clare, Kilkenny, Limerick, Waterford, Westmeath and Wexford, and €310,000 in the remaining counties. Repayments must be under one-third of household income. The loan is fixed for the term: 4.00% up to 25 years, quoted at 4.07% APR, and 4.05% over 25 years up to 30 years, quoted at 4.13% APR, set on the day you draw down. You pay mortgage protection insurance as well.
Worked examples
A new home at €450,000 with a contract on or after 2026-10-07. Help to Buy’s 10% is €45,000, which the €35,000 cap cuts to €35,000, and only if income tax and DIRT in the four earlier years are at least that high. The mortgage has to be at least 70% of €450,000, which is €315,000. If the same buyer also uses the First Home Scheme, the equity share is capped at 20%, which is €90,000, not 30%. The Help to Buy refund and the equity stake are not the same euro.
The same €450,000 home without Help to Buy can seek 30% from the First Home Scheme, €135,000, if the rest of the scheme’s tests are met, including the local price limit. I am not saying every county allows a €450,000 new build onto the scheme. If the local ceiling is lower, the home is outside it regardless of the 30% arithmetic.
A Local Authority Home Loan is a different path. Citizens Information says you cannot use it to buy under the First Home Scheme. You can use Help to Buy towards the deposit. On a €300,000 home in a county whose ceiling covers that price, 90% is €270,000, and the repayment still has to sit under one-third of household income. Stamp duty is extra. At the rates on this site, a €300,000 residential purchase is 1%, which is €3,000. None of the three supports cancels that duty.
Which combination is allowed
Help to Buy plus a commercial mortgage is the ordinary case, including a mortgage that also uses the First Home Scheme, with the equity cap reduced to 20%. Help to Buy plus a Local Authority Home Loan is allowed as a deposit contribution. A Local Authority Home Loan plus the First Home Scheme is not. Fresh-start applicants, including some people whose relationship has ended or who have been through insolvency, can use the local-authority loan on the conditions Citizens Information lists. They cannot use it to buy a former partner’s share of the family home.
The Help to Buy guide already on this site goes through the refund formula in more detail. This page is the comparison. The mortgage calculator turns whatever loan you still need into a repayment. It does not know which scheme you are in. The stamp duty calculator does the duty and nothing else. I review the caps when Revenue, the Department of Housing or Citizens Information changes a published figure. A 2027 tax change that is still waiting for the Finance Act is labelled that way on the tax tools. These housing rules are the ones the pages cited above were publishing when I wrote this.
Questions
Can I use Help to Buy and the First Home Scheme together?
Yes, on a new build or self-build that each scheme accepts. The First Home Scheme then caps its equity at 20% of the price instead of 30%.
Can I use a Local Authority Home Loan with the First Home Scheme?
No. Citizens Information says you cannot get a Local Authority Home Loan to buy a home under the First Home Scheme.
What is the Help to Buy cap from 7 October 2026?
€35,000, for a contract signed or a self-build drawdown made from 2026-10-07 to 31 December 2029, and still the lowest of that cap, 10% of the value, and the tax you paid.
Does either equity scheme pay my stamp duty?
No. Stamp duty is charged on the purchase. These supports do not cancel it. Use the stamp duty calculator for the duty.