Budget 2027: What changed for home buyers?
- Help to Buy: €30k → €35k (a €5,000 uplift but no uplift in property value threshold of €500,000 which restricts many)
- Rent-a-Room: €14k → €16k tax-free (go above this limit and the full amount is taxable)
- Qualifying garden rooms can now access Rent-a-Room Relief
- Rent Tax Credit: €1,000 → €1,150
- Mortgage Interest Tax Credit: no extension announced (relevant to existing mortgage holders)
- No FTB stamp-duty exemption (was expected by some but was not announced)
Budget 2027 — what it means for housing & mortgages
- Help to Buy increases to €35,000
The maximum HTB refund rises from €30,000 to €35,000. It remains based on the lowest of the maximum relief, 10% of the property value, or the qualifying Income Tax and DIRT paid by the applicants. The existing rules include a maximum qualifying property value of €500,000, new-build/self-build requirement and generally a mortgage of at least 70% of the property value.
Extra support: €5,000
No uplift in qualifying property value will be disappointing for some clients who, due to the fact they live in urban areas and prices are so high they are ineligible for the help to buy.
- Rent-a-Room Relief increases to €16,000
The tax-free threshold rises from €14,000 to €16,000 a year. That’s potentially up to about €1,333 per month of qualifying rent without Income Tax, USC or PRSI.
Exceeding the threshold generally means the whole amount becomes taxable, rather than just the excess. If renting a room or planning to rent a room this is really important.
- Garden rooms can now qualify for Rent-a-Room Relief
This is one of the more interesting changes. Relief is being extended to qualifying garden rooms of 32–45 sq. metres, with the measure applying retrospectively from 27 July 2026.
- Rent Tax Credit rises
For renters, the maximum credit increases:
Single person: €1,000 → €1,150
Jointly assessed couple: €2,000 → €2,300
So that’s an additional €150/€300 respectively.
- Mortgage Interest Tax Credit — no new extension announced
This is significant for existing mortgage holders. The temporary Mortgage Interest Tax Credit currently covers qualifying borrowers through 2026, with Revenue’s existing criteria including mortgages with qualifying balances of €80,000–€500,000 at 31 December 2022.
No Budget 2027 extension has been announced, so on the measures published today 2026 remains the final qualifying year.
- No FTB stamp-duty exemption
There had been discussion about reducing or abolishing stamp duty for first-time buyers. That has not been included in today’s measures; the Government instead increased HTB.
- New 7% Derelict Property Tax
A new tax on derelict properties is being introduced at 7%. The Government says the objective is to encourage owners either to redevelop derelict properties or sell them to somebody who will. Preliminary dereliction registers are expected from 1 September 2027, with the first payments not expected until 2028.
This is good news in terms of broader housing-supply.
- Home heating costs
The carbon-tax rate applying to home-heating oil and natural gas is being reduced to €48.50 per tonne rather than rising as previously scheduled. This should provide some relief to homeowners using those fuels.
The above is a summary of what was announced however the Finance Bill is currently unavailable and that bill will set out the detail on timing of the implementation of some of the announcements.
