How Much You Can Borrow: Ireland's Central Bank Mortgage Rules

Two Central Bank of Ireland rules decide the size of almost every Irish mortgage. The income rule caps your loan at four times gross income if you are a first-time buyer, or 3.5 times if you have owned a home before. The deposit rule caps the loan at 90% of the price, so you need at least a 10% deposit. Whichever of the two produces the smaller loan is the one that limits you.

The income rule: loan-to-income

The loan-to-income (LTI) limit measures the mortgage against your gross, pre-tax income. First-time buyers can borrow up to four times income; second and subsequent buyers up to 3.5 times. The first-time-buyer multiple was raised from 3.5 to four times in January 2023. For a joint application the limit applies to the combined income of both applicants.

Worked through on a few incomes:

• A single first-time buyer earning €60,000 can borrow up to €240,000 (4 × €60,000).
• Two first-time buyers earning €50,000 each have €100,000 combined, so up to €400,000 (4 × €100,000).
• A second-time buyer earning €50,000 can borrow up to €175,000 (3.5 × €50,000).

The multiple applies to the loan, not the purchase price. A higher deposit does not lift the income ceiling; it only reduces how much of a given price you need to borrow.

The deposit rule: loan-to-value

The loan-to-value (LTV) limit measures the mortgage against the property price. First-time buyers and second or subsequent buyers can both borrow up to 90% of the price, so the minimum deposit is 10%. Before January 2023, second and subsequent buyers needed 20%. Buy-to-let borrowers are held to a lower 70% limit, meaning a 30% deposit. On a €400,000 home at the 90% limit, that is a €40,000 deposit and a €360,000 loan.

Which rule sets your limit?

Both rules apply at once, and the tighter one wins. Take a couple earning €90,000 between them, both first-time buyers: the income rule allows up to €360,000 (4 × €90,000). To buy a €400,000 home they also need to clear the deposit rule, which on that price means €40,000 down and a €360,000 loan. Here the two rules agree.

Push the price up to €420,000 and they diverge. The income rule still caps the loan at €360,000, so the deposit has to rise to €60,000, roughly 14% of the price, well above the 10% minimum. The income rule, not the deposit rule, is what forces the larger deposit. You can see this interplay directly in the Ireland affordability calculator and the loan-to-value calculator.

There is a shortcut worth knowing, because it tells you which rule to worry about before you run any numbers. For any target price the two limits cross at a single income, and that crossover always sits at 22.5% of the purchase price for a first-time buyer, which is the 90% deposit limit divided by the four-times multiple. On a €300,000 home the 90% limit caps the mortgage at €270,000 whatever you earn, and the four-times multiple reaches €270,000 at exactly €67,500 of gross income. Earn less than the crossover and the income multiple is the binding constraint, so a larger deposit will not raise your ceiling by a cent. Earn more and the multiple has slack, so a higher salary changes nothing and the deposit is the only thing holding you back. The Central Bank's own view is that loan-to-income has become the binding constraint for most borrowers.

Can a lender lend more than the limits allow?

The limits are not absolute, and the allowance is more precisely defined than "some flexibility". Lenders may write 15% of their first-time buyer lending and 15% of their second and subsequent buyer lending above the limits, capped at the level of each borrower type rather than pooled across the book. Allocation sits with the lender, based on its own credit policy and its assessment of you, so an allowance is rationed rather than applied for. Unused allowance can carry into the first half of the following year where the lending was fully approved in the original year. Between 20% and 30% of all new mortgages in Dublin have carried an allowance since the measures began, which is what you would expect where prices sit furthest above incomes.

One asymmetry is worth knowing before you ask for anything: the two allowances are equal on paper and not in practice. The income allowance is heavily used, while the Central Bank observes that limited issuance of loan-to-value allowances above 90% points to lenders having very limited appetite to lend above that level. Treat the 10% deposit as a practical hard floor and spend your negotiating effort on the income multiple.

What an allowance is actually worth is easy to put a figure on. A first-time buyer on €60,000 is capped at €240,000 by the four-times multiple. An allowance taking that to 4.25 times adds €15,000, to 4.5 times adds €30,000, and to 5.0 times adds €60,000. There is no published maximum multiple for allowance lending, because the cap is on the share of a lender's book rather than the size of any single exception, so how far a lender stretches is a matter of its own credit policy. Timing matters for the same reason: each lender holds a fixed share for the year, so a strong application early competes for a fuller quota than a marginal one late on. And since an allowance is rationed rather than applied for, there is no form to fill in.

Do the rules apply if I am switching?

No, and the exemption is wider than most switchers assume. Neither the loan-to-income limit nor the loan-to-value limit applies to a switcher mortgage, so moving the outstanding balance on the same home to a new lender sits outside the measures entirely rather than merely outside the four-times ceiling. The same is true of mortgages taken out to address arrears or pre-arrears. Several other cases fall outside too, and knowing which saves you asking for an allowance you do not need: the income limits do not apply to buy-to-let lending or to lifetime mortgages, and a borrower in negative equity who sells and buys again faces the income limit but not the deposit one. Equity releases and top-ups on an existing mortgage do sit inside the measures. In every exempt case the new lender still runs its own affordability assessment, which is a separate obligation the Central Bank's limits do not replace. Our mortgage switcher calculator works through what a move could save.

What changed in April 2026?

On 8 April 2026 the Central Bank made a targeted amendment exempting principal home bridging loans from the loan-to-income limit, on the reasoning that a bridging loan is repaid from the sale of your existing home rather than out of income. To qualify the loan must be for a principal home, run for 18 months or less, and carry no contractual obligation to repay the principal until the house sells or the term ends. The 90% loan-to-value limit still applies, measured against the original principal home. Nothing else in the measures changed, so the limits described above are current. The limits set what you can borrow; the state schemes change what deposit you need, and Help to Buy against the First Home Scheme compares the two.

A note on accuracy

The figures here are the standard Central Bank limits for owner-occupier lending in 2026. Individual lenders interpret eligible income differently, particularly where pay includes bonuses or overtime, and the exception allowances shift the picture at the margin. For the source rules see the Central Bank of Ireland mortgage measures and Citizens Information, and confirm your own position with a regulated mortgage broker.