In this article we cover:

  • Help to Buy increasing from €30,000 to €35,000
  • New and expanded SEAI grants for solar, batteries and heating upgrades
  • What extra water and wastewater investment could mean for housing
  • Rent-a-Room Relief being extended to back garden dwellings
  • Carbon tax cuts for home heating oil and gas
  • The new 7 per cent Derelict Property Tax
  • Why the proposed first-time buyer stamp duty break didn’t make the Budget

Budget 2027 has brought a number of changes for self-builders and homeowners, with an increase in the Help to Buy scheme and new energy grants among the biggest measures announced so far.

The maximum Help to Buy refund is being increased by €5,000, from €30,000 to €35,000.

The scheme is available to qualifying first-time buyers purchasing a new home as well as first-time self-builders.

Under the existing rules, Help to Buy provides a refund of Income Tax and DIRT paid in the previous four years, subject to eligibility conditions. For self-builders, the current scheme needs the approved valuation of the home to be no more than €500,000 and a qualifying mortgage of at least 70 per cent of the valuation.

Further detail on how the new €35,000 ceiling will operate is expected to follow through the Finance Bill and updated Revenue guidance.

A number of new and expanded Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) supports are also taking effect alongside Budget 2027, as already announced.

These include a new €600 grant for domestic battery storage systems of 5kWh or more, while eligibility for the existing solar PV grant of up to €1,800 has been widened to include homes built and occupied before 2025. Plus a €2,000 boiler scrappage scheme to replace fossil-fuel heating with a heat pump or another renewable heating system. This is in addition to existing heat pump supports.

The Budget also includes a big increase in spending on the infrastructure needed to get more homes built.

The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) has welcomed €2.3 billion for Uisce Éireann, including €1.5 billion in capital funding, which is aimed at improving water and wastewater capacity and progressing more than 400 projects. For self-builders, that matters because access to water and wastewater services can be one of the key issues in deciding whether a site is suitable to build on.

The budget expenditure document points to more funds being allocated for wastewater treatment plant upgrades, resolution of legacy water issues including developer-provided infrastructure and lead pipe remediation, and continued investment in group water schemes, rural wastewater infrastructure, private wells and septic tank grant schemes.

Money was also promised to go towards the remediation of homes affected by defects including pyrite, apartment defects and defective concrete blocks.

The CIF also welcomed the increase in Help to Buy, calling it a “positive step” for people trying to get onto the property ladder.

The CIF said builders are still feeling the pressure from rising costs, particularly smaller firms. It welcomed the cut in carbon taxes, but said more detail is still needed on the fuel support scheme announced for the construction sector.

For self-builders, what matters most is whether these changes help bring down the cost of materials, energy and contractors.

There is also a useful change for homeowners looking into the new planning-exempt garden dwellings.

Rent-a-Room Relief is being extended to detached units of between 32sq m and 45sq m, while the tax-free annual limit is rising from €14,000 to €16,000. The change applies retrospectively from July 27, when the new rules for detached auxiliary dwellings came into effect.

Until now, detached self-contained units were excluded from Rent-a-Room Relief, so updated Revenue guidance will be important in setting out exactly who can qualify and under what conditions.

Homeowners who heat their homes with oil or gas will also get some relief. The carbon tax on both is being cut from €63.50 to €48.50 per tonne of CO2, and the Government says planned increases will be put on hold for the rest of its term.

There is also more detail on the planned Derelict Property Tax. Finance Minister Simon Harris has confirmed that the new tax will be set at 7 per cent and included in this year’s Finance Bill.

Work on the system is due to begin in January, with preliminary registers of derelict properties expected from September 1, 2027.

The aim is to push owners to either bring derelict homes back into use or sell them on.

For anyone thinking of buying and renovating a derelict property, though, there are still important details to come – including how the tax will be calculated, what exemptions may apply and how it will sit alongside existing vacant and derelict home supports.

One measure that had been under discussion ahead of the Budget was a possible stamp duty exemption for first-time buyers purchasing second-hand homes.

That proposal hasn’t made it into the Budget package, meaning buyers of second-hand homes will not receive the additional stamp duty support that had been proposed.