These include the reintroduction of mortgage interest relief for first-time buyers, the extension of the Help to Buy scheme until 2025, and changes to the tax treatment of private landlords. Irish homebuyers pay significantly higher mortgage rates than their counterparts in the UK and mainland Europe. Mortgage interest tax relief was abolished with little opposition in the wake of the global financial crash in 2008. Stimulus is now seen as more appropriate than austerity and the reintroduction of mortgage interest tax relief would accord with that agenda. A couple with a mortgage of €300,000 paying 2.5 per cent interest would stand to gain €1,875 in annual relief (25 per cent of the €7,500 interest bill).

Source: The Irish Times October 05, 2020 04:24 UTC