Ireland mortgage & home-finance calculators

What makes an Irish mortgage different

Ireland is the only euro market on this site, and its lending rules are set by the Central Bank in explicit numbers rather than left to lender judgement.

There is a statutory income multiple, and it differs by buyer type. The Central Bank's mortgage measures cap lending at four times gross income for first-time buyers and three and a half times for second-and-subsequent buyers. Lenders have a limited allowance to exceed it, which is why exceptions exist and are scarce. It is a regulatory limit rather than a convention, so it does not vary by lender appetite the way a British income multiple does.

Deposit requirements are set the same way. First-time buyers face a 90% loan-to-value ceiling, so a 10% deposit, while second-and-subsequent buyers are held to a lower limit. Both are Central Bank rules rather than bank policy.

Rates follow the ECB, not a domestic central bank. Tracker mortgages follow the ECB main refinancing rate directly and Euribor prices some variable products. A quarter-point ECB move adds roughly €13 a month per €100,000 borrowed on a tracker or variable rate, which is about €41 on a €300,000 loan. A fixed rate feels nothing until its term ends.

Stamp duty is low by British standards. Residential purchase attracts duty at a modest rate on the price, with a higher rate above a threshold, and it is a fraction of what a comparable UK purchase would cost in SDLT. The upfront burden in Ireland sits in the deposit rather than in the tax.

Two state schemes that change the arithmetic

Ireland has more state support for first buyers than any other market here, and both schemes interact with the Central Bank limits rather than sitting alongside them.

Help to Buy is a tax rebate for first-time buyers of new-build property, refunding income tax paid over previous years up to a capped amount and a percentage of the purchase price. It functions as deposit assistance, so it changes what loan-to-value you can reach rather than what you can borrow.

The First Home Scheme is shared equity: the State takes a percentage stake in the property in exchange for bridging part of the price. That raises your buying power beyond the income multiple, at the cost of a share in future appreciation and a service charge after an initial period. It is the only mechanism here that lets a buyer exceed what the income cap would otherwise permit.

Both have eligibility conditions, price caps and interactions worth checking before relying on them, and both apply mainly to new-build.

Fixed, variable or tracker

Irish fixed terms are typically one to five years, occasionally longer, and rolling off a fix returns you to the lender's variable rate rather than to a new deal automatically. Legacy tracker mortgages, written before the financial crisis, follow the ECB rate at a fixed margin and are usually worth keeping rather than switching.

Switching lenders is more common in Ireland than it once was, and several lenders pay a contribution towards legal costs to attract switchers, which is worth including in any comparison.

Where the calculators fit

The affordability calculator applies the Central Bank income multiple for your buyer type and the matching loan-to-value ceiling, since both bind. The stamp duty calculator holds the current residential rates and the threshold, checked against Revenue and dated. The Help to Buy and First Home Scheme calculators handle each scheme's caps and conditions. The switcher calculator compares a move against staying, including the cost contribution.

Every figure is computed from the underlying formula rather than repeated from another site, and every Central Bank and Revenue value carries the date it was last verified against the primary source.