4% interest on state loans to developers

Developers will be charged as low as 4% interest on state loans to construct houses under the new Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI) scheme.

The finer details of HBFI, announced as part of Budget 2018, will have to be hammered out and put into legislation before money can be loaned out, but it is understood that the Government is looking at offering interest rates of between 4% and 7% to builders.

It comes after Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy faced further criticism over the number of social houses that will be directly built by local authorities next year, with opposition parties claiming there has been no increase on the targets outlined by former housing minister Simon Coveney last year.