Wicklow Home Buyers Account For A Tenth Of All First Home Scheme Approvals

The First Home Scheme fund set up to help First-Time Buyers and others is proving helpful to people in County Wicklow

There is a strong uptake of houses purchased under the First Home Scheme in Co. Wicklow after three years of the scheme.

3,691 homes have been already been bought or self-built while just under three-quarters of approvals have been in Dublin, Cork, Kildare Meath as well as Wicklow.

Of the 7,605 approvals provided since its launch, 9% have been generated in Wicklow. The First Home Scheme provide 30% of the purchase price and 20% if the buyer is also using the Help to Buy scheme.

The First Home Scheme, a €740m fund set up to help First-Time Buyers and others who qualify under the Fresh Start principle to bridge the gap between their mortgage, deposit and the price of a new home as part of the Government’s Housing for All strategy, has published an update today to coincide with the third anniversary of the Scheme opening for business.

The Scheme is a joint venture between the State and three banks, currently AIB (including subsidiaries EBS and Haven), Bank of Ireland and PTSB, and remains open to other authorised mortgage lenders in the Irish market to join the scheme.

The update shows continued strong interest in the Scheme, with 7,605 buyers approved and 3,691 homes already bought (or self-built by people building their own home) using the Scheme, as at end June 2025.

The report also shows a significant uplift in Scheme usage in its third year, with a 22% increase in the number of homes bought or built using the Scheme (1,778 homes bought or built in the period July 2024-June 2025 versus 1,457 in the previous 12-month period).

831 buyers were approved and 368 homes were bought or built using Scheme support in Q2 2025.

 July 2025 progress report - key information

- 7,605 buyers in all 26 counties have been approved by the Scheme and have received eligibility certificates allowing them to buy or self-build their chosen home. (A joint application is counted as one buyer, not two).

- 3,691 buyers in all 26 counties have already completed the purchase of their home using the Scheme (including people building their own home).

- The First Home Scheme has provided over €240m in support to people who have bought or self-built their homes using the Scheme.

- A total of over 17,300 potential buyers or self-builders have registered their interest in the Scheme.

- The average purchase price for homes purchased, or build cost for homes built, using the scheme is €386,000; the average support being provided by the First Home Scheme in these cases is approx. €66,000 (17% of the average purchase price).

- 66% of First Home Scheme users are also availing of the Help to Buy scheme.

- 72% of live approvals have been for buyers in Dublin, Cork, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow, with the remaining 28% spread across the remaining 21 counties throughout Ireland.

- All cumulative data included covers the period from First Home’s launch on July 7th, 2022, to end June 2025.

 The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne TD, said:

“This Government is absolutely committed to employing every means at our disposal to ensure people can access a home of their own. We introduced the First Home Scheme as one of the ways to deliver that. The scheme has proved hugely popular over the past three years – allowing almost 3,700 new First-Time Buyers and other qualifying applicants to get the keys to a home to call their own.

“Naturally, due to the success of the Scheme - reflected in its strong take-up levels to date - the Government has committing additional funding to the Scheme in recent months.

“The success to date is great and I want to see that built on, with thousands more First-Time Buyers benefitting from the Scheme over the coming years.”

The First Home Scheme Chief Executive, Michael Broderick, said:

“As we enter our fourth year in business, we’re very encouraged by the level of appetite among First-Time Buyers who can see how the Scheme can make home ownership possible for them.

We have significant capacity to help more First-Time Buyers of new homes as well as people who want to build their own home and tenants who want to buy their current home from their landlord.

We’d encourage anyone looking to buy or build their first home to check out what we offer. On average we’re providing support of €66,000 to First-Time Buyers and that’s a really substantial level of support.

On July 1st we increased the price ceilings that apply in 16 local authority areas to reflect local market conditions and these changes will allow even more buyers to qualify for the Scheme.”

Breakdown of live approvals by county

Price ceilings since 1st July

The €740 million Scheme provides financial support to homebuyers and facilitates them in purchasing a new home (or building their own home) that they could not otherwise do after combining their available mortgage and deposit.

By bridging the gap between the available mortgage, deposit and the price of the new home, the Scheme will make the prospect of home ownership possible for many for the first time.
 

The First Home Scheme can provide a maximum of 30% of the purchase price (20% if the buyer is also using the Help to Buy scheme).

 Conditions relating to self-build homes

A self-build home is one that is built on a site by the owner(s) of the site, either through direct labour (self-managed) or a fixed contractor (construction contract). The home must be used as the principal private residence of the owner(s).

The house can be detached or semi-detached and can be single-storey or have multiple floors (subject to planning permission and mortgage approval).

Price (build cost) ceilings apply across each Local Authority area and are reviewed twice annually as with the price ceilings for new builds.

Among the conditions that self-build homes must fulfil are requirements to provide a Certified Build Cost and a Certified Valuation.
 

Self-build customers will have 12 months from the date of signing the First Home Scheme Customer Contract to draw down the First Home Scheme Equity Facility (subject to meeting all conditions). They will have a further 24 months from the date of drawdown to complete the build of their new home.

 New Tenant Purchase Scheme launched in April 2023

The scope of the First Home Scheme was extended in April 2023 to include renters who want to buy their home from a landlord who has indicated a wish to sell and has issued the tenant with a Notice of Termination (NOT).

Under the Tenant Home Purchase Scheme, 294 approvals have issued by the end of June 2025, with 158 of these tenants having gone on to complete the acquisition of their homes so far.

 New Self-Build Scheme launched in September 2023

The scope of the First Home Scheme was further extended on September 20th, 2023, to include qualifying self-builders who have a site but who may not have sufficient funding to complete the construction of their home when they combine the mortgage available and deposit. This Scheme has seen 144 approvals, with 46 customers drawing down funds so far.

KPMG research on impact of First Home Scheme on house price inflation

In order to minimise the risk of price distortions in the First-Time Buyer market, the First Home Scheme introduced the concept of Local Authority Price Ceilings from the outset of the Scheme. This includes a twice-yearly review of price ceilings that apply to Scheme users in individual local authority areas to reflect market conditions.

An additional measure is the commissioning of periodic research by KPMG to assess the extent, if any, to which the First Home Scheme has contributed to house price inflation.

In separate reports in 2024 and 2025, KPMG has concluded there is no evidence to suggest the Scheme has materially contributed to price inflation in new homes. The reports also stated that it remains critical that the First Home Scheme monitors this risk on an ongoing basis, including through regular reviews of its price ceilings, to ensure it does not contribute to new home price growth as uptake of the Scheme grows.