State mortgage scheme gave 3 loans since 2012

The Government is to overhaul its own alternative mortgage scheme for people turned down by conventional lenders after it emerged no mortgage was provided in 2015 and just three have been issued under the scheme since 2012.

The ‘Home Choice Loan’ is a mortgage for first-time buyers first introduced in 2009 as a temporary loan offering from local authorities.

The Government-backed mortgage was to provide up to 92% of the market value of a property purchased to a maximum loan amount of €285,000. To qualify, applicants need to earn over €35,000 as a single applicant and over €45,000 combined income as joint applicants, be in continuous employment for a minimum of one year and provide evidence via a broker that they could not obtain sufficient finance from two banks or building societies.