Is there any First Time Buyer Incentives left?

Jesper

I'm hoping to buy my first house this year. Single 30's.
I'm trying to financially do all the costs vs. advantages so I'm interested to know what tax breaks or grants are available.

athtrasna

The biggest incentive these days are rising prices and rising rents..it's like another bubble has been blown

Marchbride

Jesper wrote: »

I'm hoping to buy my first house this year. Single 30's.
I'm trying to financially do all the costs vs. advantages so I'm interested to know what tax breaks or grants are available.

Nothing.... Only advice I can give is be ready for the madness

riclad

Advantage is instead of paying rent,
in 30 years ,you,ll own your home,
loan is paid off,
IN theory you ,ll be able to sell it and buy a smaller house, outside the city .
And make a profit on the sale.
And you wont be at the mercy of rising rents.

The budgets removed all grants ,and tax breaks.
WHEN you are buying a house ,you have to think in terms of 20 years plus.
AT Least you get to choose where you live.
Look at cost of mortgage vs cost of rent,

THINK can i afford a loan if interest rates go up 2 per cent.
Get a 2 room unit,
then you have the option of renting 1 room,
if you want.
YOU pay no tax on rental income ,up to 10 k.
if you live there ,
ie rent a room scheme.

I dont think the grants made much difference as builders
took them into account.

The_Conductor

Normalisation of interest rates would indicate a rise to an ECB Euribor of 4-4.5%
Aka- factor at least a 4% rate rise into your equations.
Whether or when we eventually hit those heady high rates- god only knows- it could be in 10 years time, it could be in 2 years time- it could be never.

The pre-occupation with 'owning' property in Ireland is quite remarkable- and it seems obvious to any bystander that the incidental costs of ownership are only going to increase. We have a review of the working of the property tax due in 2016-2017, proposals to abolish the TV license and incorporate it into the property tax, imminent water charges- god only knows what other rabbits they're going to pull out of the hat.

Ireland, and Irish people- have a particular hatred of renting, landlords, and not 'owning' their own house. Globally- we're almost unique.

Its not a fair comparitor to look at the previous boom/bust- or even events of the previous 30 years- and try to discern whether you're better to own or rent- because the landscape has changed. The Irish government is really getting 'into' taxing assets- and raising government income by the backdoor- without increasing headline income tax rates (which are ridiculously structured in any event- with out higher tax band kicking in at an incredibly low level).

Your mortgage is just going to be one, on a growing list, of costs of ownership. Ignore the other costs at your peril. Ignore the propensity for them (including the mortgage element) to grow significantly, at your peril. Owning a house is not an invitation to Eldorado- you will be burnt badly if you have this mindset.

If you can't see yourself living in the property longterm (aka at least 10-15-20 years)- forget it- you're only going to have heart ache.

jon1981

The_Conductor wrote: »

Normalisation of interest rates would indicate a rise to an ECB Euribor of 4-4.5%
Aka- factor at least a 4% rate rise into your equations.

Are you saying that those on SVR off 4% now would be paying 8-8.5% while the tracker people will still be a great deal less?

Given that the banks are still only stress testing ppl to 2% above the current rate, surely this is going to create another catastrophe if this isto happen?

The_Conductor wrote: »

Ireland, and Irish people- have a particular hatred of renting, landlords, and not 'owning' their own house. Globally- we're almost unique.

Compared to some other countries there are no long term rental options available. Is it not a question of providing a secure stable home in which the rental setup in Ireland does not help much to ensure you can raise a family in a rented home without the threat of having to move on 12 months later.

L1011

SVRs may not (or may...) rise in step with the ECB rate every single time - the current margin over the ECB rate is unprecedented even if its obvious why it's that high.

As goes first time buyer incentives - every single one of them that we had jus worked to add that amount to the price of a house in the first place. Just look at what happened at the end of the First Time Buyers Grant, the hysteria towards the end of MIR.

riclad

THE government have done nothing to reduce rents ,
in the past 4 years,
except reduce rent allowance limits.
NEW rules re requirements for rental units,
have increased costs on landlords,
reduced the amount of flats on the market.
And increased average rents.
Buying a house means you are independent ,
not spending money on rent for 20 plus years.
WE don,t have rent controls like some other countrys .
EVEN if you pay rent a landlord can decide
to sell up at any time.

Ray Palmer

The_Conductor wrote: »

We have a review of the working of the property tax due in 2016-2017, proposals to abolish the TV license and incorporate it into the property tax, imminent water charges- god only knows what other rabbits they're going to pull out of the hat.

The TV charge will not be part of the property tax it has been quite clearly stated that this will be the occupier. In other words you don't avoid it by renting as you will have to pay it no matter if you own or not.

Water charges are also based on user pays so no effect on owning your property.

The property tax will change and likely go up. Will it remain a property tax? It was always meant to be a household charge. I would see it likely that the change will be a new "household charge" with property tax staying as is.

User pays is the likely way all our charges will end up being. Once they TV licence charge is changed they will have the means to take money off residents. Setting that up is the cost adding to it will be cheap.

kennyb3

The_Conductor wrote: »

Normalisation of interest rates would indicate a rise to an ECB Euribor of 4-4.5%
Aka- factor at least a 4% rate rise into your equations.

How did you come to that conclusion?

Here is the historic ECB rates. You'll see it's only ever been above 4% for just over 1 year out of nearly 11.

The euro and ECB is immature and I think it's very hard to suggest what is 'normal' based on that history.

If rates rise it will be to tackle inflation and you can be pretty sure there will be wage inflation as part of that.

I do think people should stress test their mortgage's - just not by 4%. I also think with interest rates being so low, now is the time to overpay your mortgage. It would be hard to argue that there isn't at least 3-5 years more of low rates, so overpay now and keep your average mortgage rate low, people should then be in a better position to absorb any rate rise.

Bateman

Overpay now as in make extra monthly contributions towards the principle of the loan or overpay now as in dive into the market buying the asset now?

kennyb3

Obviously the former ('overpay your mortgage' being what I said exactly), didn't think I'd end up having to point that out.

The_Conductor

kennyb3 wrote: »

How did you come to that conclusion?

Here is the historic ECB rates. You'll see it's only ever been above 4% for just over 1 year out of nearly 11.

The euro and ECB is immature and I think it's very hard to suggest what is 'normal' based on that history.

If rates rise it will be to tackle inflation and you can be pretty sure there will be wage inflation as part of that.

I do think people should stress test their mortgage's - just not by 4%. I also think with interest rates being so low, now is the time to overpay your mortgage. It would be hard to argue that there isn't at least 3-5 years more of low rates, so overpay now and keep your average mortgage rate low, people should then be in a better position to absorb any rate rise.

Trichet is the one who indicated what 'normalisation' of rates meant. They have a Q&A after each monthly meeting- he was specifically asked what it meant. I'll see if I can find you a link (note- this is a historic statement- I'll have to trawl the press archive to try dig it out for you).