Help-to-buy housing scheme: Is it a help or a hindrance for prices?

THE future of the help-to-buy scheme for first-time house buyers has been put in doubt, after Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy, said he was “concerned” that it could be inflationary.

Speaking on RTÉ, Mr Murphy said he was worried that the first-time buyers’ grant “hasn’t achieved the delivery on the [housing] supply side that we need”.

A review is under way to see if the scheme is pushing up house prices, he said, adding that he will make a decision on it when the review is completed.