What is a first-time buyer?

According to the official Central Bank of Ireland definition,
a first-time buyer (FTB) is an individual who has never before, either by themselves or with others, purchased a house, apartment, or a site to build a home, in Ireland or abroad. When it comes to applying this definition to the sale and purchase of mortgages, a FTB is, “a borrower to whom no housing loan has ever before been advanced”.

There are key differences between FTB and Second and subsequent borrowers (SSB) that make this definition necessary. Firstly, FTBs only require a deposit of 10 per cent of a property’s purchase price, while SSBs typically need a minimum deposit of 20 per cent. Secondly, FTBs can take advantage of the Help to Buy rebate. This Government scheme run through Revenue.ie is designed to aid FTBs in obtaining their deposit by providing a refund on income tax and deposit interest retention tax. This scheme is due to end in December 2021 but may be extended.

A first-time buyer is a person (or, where there is more than one buyer, each of such persons):

• Who has not on any previous occasion, either individually or jointly, purchased or built on his/her own behalf a house (in Ireland or abroad), and
• Where the property purchased is occupied by the purchaser, or a person on his behalf, as his/her only or principal place of residence, and
• Where no rent, other than rent under the rent-a-room-scheme, is derived from the property for five years after the date of the current purchase