Commercial Property

Brokers warn that housing subsidies are inflating new home costs

‘Subsidies change behaviour,’ explained John Fahy of Pangea Advisors, a Dublin-based mortgage broker. ‘Estimates are that about 30 per cent of people availing of Help to Buy didn’t need the money’

There’s nothing like squeezed interest rates and toe curling mortgage rate increases to focus the mind. But not all mortgage schemes are the same.

In the week that the government approved an €80 million bump to the First Home Scheme (FSH), some brokers argue the scheme only serves to push the price of new homes up and is structured in a way that people simply don’t understand.

They argue that should house prices drop, those ...