Scheme will help reverse decline in numbers who own their own home - O'Brien

It comes as new findings from the ERSI that reveal just two-thirds of those currently aged 35 to 44 years are likely to own their home by the time they retire.

Woman looking at houses and flats in the window of an estate agent in London, UK renting rent to let generic stock

A new home shared equity scheme due to be launched tomorrow will be a "game-changer" in reversing the decline in homeownership, the Housing Minister has said.

Darragh O'Brien has said the sharp reduction in the number of people who own their own home is a trend the Government can reverse.

It comes as new findings from the ERSI revealed just two-thirds of those currently aged 35 to 44 years are likely to own their home by the time they retire.

That compares to 90% of those currently aged 65 or over, who own their homes.

Mr O'Brien said: "We have over probably 10 or 15 years seen a decline in homeownership rates, and we need to reverse that decline. I'm confident we can do that.

"Tomorrow, I'll be announcing the first home shared equity [scheme], which is a game-changer in my view, which will be able to bridge the gap for people between the finance they have so the mortgage approval they may have in their savings and the finance that they need by the state taking that equity," he said.

Mr O'Brien described the measure as "an equity" and "not a second mortgage", meaning the State will take a stake in the property which the resident can buy out at any stage or pay off if they sell the home.

He hopes the scheme will help people purchase 2,000 homes each year over the next three or four years.

Darragh O'Brien said the decrease in homeownership also comes down to the lack of supply. File picture: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie

Under the measure, the State can take up to 30% in the house if owners don't avail of the Help to Buy scheme, and a 20% stake if they do receive the grant.

A new portal, which will allow people key in their salaries and other information, to see what they can avail of under the scheme will go live tomorrow.

The Minister told Newstalk Breakfast the decrease in homeownership also comes down to the lack of supply.

"We're seeing supply thankfully this year, turning a corner. We've seen the largest amount of housing commencements since 2011, the highest amount of planning permissions granted in well over a decade."

He added: "The measures I've brought forward on first home shared equity are a supply-side measure to boost supply and to help people access that supply because we need more supply of the right homes. That's why it's targeted initially at new build homes.

"This as a practical measure, there's been no scheme like this before. If we go back maybe 15 or 20 years, there was a shared ownership scheme that was completely different to this. This is better, it's equity, it's low-cost for people, it takes into account their own financial situation."

Mr O'Brien said he is in favour of retaining the Help to Buy grant, which is currently being reviewed by Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe ahead of the budget.

He added that a new grant to help people purchase vacant properties will also be announced in the coming weeks and will provide similar funds to the current help to buy.