Darragh O'Brien denies shared equity scheme will push up house prices as happened in Britain

Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien said the scheme here, which is aimed at first-time buyers buying a new-build home on private land and will provide up to 20% equity support from the State, is not the same as its UK counterpart.

The Housing Minister has said his shared equity home loan will not push up house prices, despite a report in Britain finding a similar scheme had.

A report by the House of Lords into the British Help-to-Buy scheme, which enables first-time buyers to obtain an equity loan from the Government of up to 20% (or up to 40% in London) of the market value of new-build homes, found it will have cost £29bn (€34bn) by the end of next year and would have been better spent on new housing supply.