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WHOSE HOUSE IS IT ANYWAY?

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It comes as no surprise these days that the world of buying your first home has become an increasingly difficult one to navigate. Gone are the days of being able to finance your first home, and also have overflow cash readily available for furnishing and renovations. This year’s introduction of the new mortgage rules has made the process somewhat more difficult for both first and second time buyers to gain access to the funds required. As a result of this, the average age at which couples are buying their first homes has increased greatly in recent years.

 

With these new mortgage rules making it increasingly difficult to save for your first and then subsequent second home, the issue then becomes saving that extra bit of cash to furnish and renovate any problematic areas of your new home. Thankfully, a new Bank of Ireland mortgage initiative promises to help you with this arduous task.

 

Bank of Ireland already promise customers the lowest available 3 year fixed term rate available and 12 month approval. Now, in addition to these promises, Bank of Ireland are offering customers who are first time buyers, movers, or those interested in switching an existing mortgage to Bank of Ireland, 2% cashback on their loan.

 

While 2% may seem an insignificant number at first glance on paper, this could be of great benefit when your savings have immediately gone into the new requirements for deposits. Where there was no real wiggle room to start work on your new home, there now is an unexpected sum available at your disposal. Get thee to a DIY store!

 

To put this figure into perspective, if you are to borrow €150,000 for your new home, Bank of Ireland will then lodge€3000 into the account used for the mortgage. Bank of Ireland state that this payment will be made within 45 days from the mortgage being drawn down. Just in time to start collecting tiles for that new bathroom you would like to put in.

 

This offer applies to mortgages drawn down between 3rd June 2015 and 31st December 2015, so this is a good time to do a check on those all-important savings and hopefully make a move towards your new home.

 

Buying a home is a very expensive yet rewarding endeavour and it is a relief to see some new initiatives announced to assist people on their way. Should you require any assistance with your own savings, finances, ormortgage arrangements, please do not hesitate to contact us here at DCA Accountants.

NEW MORTGAGE RULES

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The Central Bank’s much debated and often bemoaned stricter mortgage rules were finally officially announced last month and officially put into place only last week.

 

Under these new tighter guidelines first time buyers appear to have business as usual as they can continue to apply for a 90% mortgage up to a limit of  €220,000. Anything above this limit will be subjected to the new 20% deposit requirement. Given that the average house price in Dublin is approximately €269,000 (according to latest published results from myhome.ie) it would seem unlikely that many buyers will escape the clutches of this requirement entirely.

Those looking to trade up on their existing homes will be entirely subjected to the 20% requirement for the entire sum of their loan which has caused concerns that many young couples and families may find themselves ‘locked out’ of the property market or, having already taken a step onto the first rung of the property ladder in easier financial climates, may find it impossible to take the next step, or fall off completely.

 

There will also now be a cap on the amount that can be loaned, something that banks and mortgage lenders previously had left to their own discretion. This sees lenders being restricted to only borrowing 3.5 times their income. Given that there is massive disparity between wage scales across various sectors, this rule would seem to leave those in lower earning sectors out in the cold.

 

It was reported last week that banks have been urging mortgage defaulters to seek a familial ‘dig out’ to help them meet their mortgage repayments.  These new tightened mortgage rules could now see buyers returning to the ‘bank of Mum and Dad’ model of purchasing in order to meet the deposit demand. It was recently reported that the Credit Union will be willing to allow parents to borrow significant amounts to assist with their children’s deposit as the prospective buyer themselves would be unable to take out a loan.

 

As the Capital Acquisitions Tax on gifts currently allows an un-taxed amount up to €225,000 we may well expect to see these rules also tightened. As it stands, without the addition of a parental gift the average couple can expect to be saving for at least four years to meet their deposit requirements for first time buying, whilst those trading up may well be reliant on these so-called ‘dig outs’ when they have outgrown their current dwelling.