A NEW GRANT scheme for first-time buyers is set to be introduced in the upcoming budget as part of efforts to ease the housing crisis.

Housing Minister Simon Coveney confirmed the news at the Fine Gael think-in yesterday saying that first-time buyers are being “locked out of the market”.

Coveney said the grant would take the form of a tax rebate but that the amount and the details are still being worked out.

In Fianna Fáil’s pre-election manifesto, the opposition party had also suggested helping first-time buyers in their ability to pay by suggesting a savings top-up of up to €10,000 for couples.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Coveney said “specific supports” for first-time buyers are needed.

“The people who are most exposed in relation to the house purchase market are first-time buyers,” the minister said.

“About 55% of people who buy homes are first-time buyers and the majority of those, particularly in Dublin and Cork where there’s huge demand, are simply locked out of the market.”

There aren’t houses being built for them and there aren’t houses being built at a price that they can afford. So we need to change that and there are only really two ways we can do that. The first is to reduce the price of houses, the other is to increase the capacity to buy of first-time buyers and I think there’ll be a bit of both.

The minister went on to say that this will include some kind of first-time buyers grant.

“I think it will be something along the lines of a first-time buyers grant, effectively through the tax system through a tax rebate and the extent of that and the means through which it is being done is being worked out,” he said.