Loan approvals from Home Building Finance Ireland up 14%

Loans totalling €2.755bn have been drawn down for 168 developments supporting 15,610 homes where construction is in progress or has completed

Dara Deering, chief executive of Home Building Finance Ireland.

Loan approvals from Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI) grew by 14% during the first half of this year. as the company nears 20,000 homes funded since it commenced operations in 2019, new results show.

The value of all loans approved by HBFI now stands at €3.776bn as of the end of June — up from €3.323bn at the end of December. Of the total value of loans approved, drawdowns have taken place in respect of facilities totalling €2.755bn for 168 developments supporting 15,610 homes where construction is in progress or has completed.

HBFI said it typically expects a time lag of between three and six months between a loan being approved and its first drawdown.

Individual loan facilities range from €1m to €113m, with an average size of €14.7m. These facilities are for an average term of 23 months.

HBFI was established in 2018 via legislation and commenced operations in January 2019 with an initial funding of €730m made available by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. It is a private company operating on a commercial basis to fund the delivery of new homes and is wholly owned by the minister for finance.

Since the company's inception, it has approved funding for 19,399 homes in 256 developments across counties.

Of these homes, 70% were houses and 30% were apartments.

The company said the majority of funding approvals to date, 80%, are targeted at small and medium-sized firms which are seeking funding of €20m or less.

Additionally, 87% of loans approved to date cover more than 65% of the project costs.

Of the total number of homes funded by HBFI, 8,057 have already been sold, with a further 2,972 contracted for sale or sale agreed as at the end of June 2026.

Chief executive of HBFI Dara Deering said the company was “continuing to provide strong and sustained support for homebuilders throughout Ireland”.

“The funding we have provided for almost 20,000 homes demonstrates the strength of our relationships with homebuilders, at a time when the delivery of housing is so important,” she said.