How to Get a Mortgage in Ireland: A Step-by-Step Guide
To get a mortgage in Ireland, you must build a deposit, show that you can afford the repayments, prepare evidence of your income and spending, and apply to a lender for approval in principle. Once you find a property, the lender must approve that specific home before issuing a formal loan offer and releasing the money.
As a general rule, first-time buyers can borrow up to four times their gross annual income and need a deposit of at least 10%. However, these are maximum regulatory limits not a guarantee that a bank will lend you that amount.
At a Glance
First-time buyer income limit: Generally four times gross annual income
Second or subsequent buyer limit: Generally 3.5 times gross annual income
Minimum owner-occupier deposit: 10%
Minimum buy-to-let deposit: 30%
Help to Buy: Up to €30,000, subject to tax paid and other conditions
First Home Scheme: Generally between 2.5% and 30% of the qualifying property cost
Residential stamp duty: 1% on the first €1 million
Typical application evidence: ID, proof of address, payslips, salary certificate and six months of financial statements
How to Get a Mortgage in Ireland in 9 Steps
Step 1: Work out how much you may be able to borrow
The Central Bank of Ireland’s mortgage measures place limits on borrowing relative to income and property value.
Under the rules checked in September 2026:
Buyer typeGeneral income limitMinimum depositFirst-time buyer4 times gross income10%Second or subsequent buyer3.5 times gross income10%Buy-to-let buyerLender assessment applies30%
A first-time buyer earning €60,000 could therefore potentially borrow up to €240,000:
€60,000 × 4 = €240,000
A couple with combined gross earnings of €90,000 could potentially borrow up to €360,000:
€90,000 × 4 = €360,000
These are regulatory ceilings. A lender may offer less after examining your childcare costs, loans, age, employment, spending and ability to withstand higher interest rates.
The Central Bank’s mortgage measures allow lenders to make a limited proportion of lending above the standard limits. As of September 2026, up to 15% of first-time buyer and second or subsequent buyer lending can be above the limits. These exceptions are discretionary and should not be treated as an entitlement.
Step 2: Build your deposit and buying-cost fund
Most first-time buyers need at least 10% of the purchase price.
The deposit is not the only money you need. Buyers should separately budget for:
Stamp duty
Solicitor’s professional fee and legal outlays
Property valuation
An independent survey or engineer’s inspection
Mortgage protection
Buildings insurance
Registration and property searches
Repairs, furniture and moving costs
Residential stamp duty is charged at 1% on the first €1 million of the purchase price, 2% on the portion between €1 million and €1.5 million, and 6% on the portion above €1.5 million. These rates apply to instruments executed on or after 2 October 2024, according to Revenue’s residential stamp-duty rates.
A €400,000 home therefore carries stamp duty of:
€400,000 × 1% = €4,000
Solicitor, survey, valuation and insurance costs vary. Obtain itemised quotes rather than relying on a single national estimate.
Step 3: Show that you can afford the repayments
Having a deposit is not enough. The lender must be satisfied that you can repay the mortgage while continuing to meet normal living costs.
Lenders commonly examine:
Regular savings
Rent already being paid
Personal loans and car finance
Credit-card and overdraft use
Childcare and maintenance costs
Direct debits and recurring subscriptions
Gambling transactions
Missed payments
Employment security
Overtime, bonuses or commission
Future affordability if interest rates rise
Your expected income and mortgage term approaching retirement
A useful target is to demonstrate that your monthly rent plus savings is at least equal to the proposed mortgage repayment.
For example, if you pay €1,200 in rent and save €600 each month, you are demonstrating monthly repayment capacity of €1,800—provided the pattern is consistent and you are not building up other debts.
This does not guarantee approval. Each lender applies its own affordability assessment and stress testing.
Clean up your finances before applying
Practical preparation can include:
Saving by standing order immediately after payday
Paying every loan and credit-card bill on time
Avoiding persistent overdraft use
Reducing expensive short-term debt
Keeping money for the deposit separate
Avoiding unexplained large transfers
Retaining evidence of gifts or family support
Checking statements from every account, including fintech accounts
Waiting until probation has ended where possible
Do not hide debts or accounts. Lenders can request information about accounts with banks, credit unions, digital banks and other financial providers.
Step 4: Check your credit record
The Central Credit Register records information supplied by lenders about qualifying loans. Lenders also submit information about loan applications of €2,000 or more.
You can request your Central Credit Register report free of charge, subject to fair-usage conditions.
Review it before applying so that you can:
Identify inaccurate personal information
Check the repayment history shown
Request a correction where information is wrong
Add an explanatory statement where appropriate
Address forgotten or unresolved debts
The register does not give you a simple consumer credit score. Lenders interpret the report alongside your income, commitments, statements and overall application.
A past missed payment does not automatically make a mortgage impossible, but it may reduce your options or require an explanation.
Step 5: Prepare the mortgage documents
According to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission’s mortgage application guidance, lenders may request:
Identification
Valid passport or Irish driving licence
Proof of address
Evidence of your PPS number
Income and employment
Recent payslips
Salary certificate completed by your employer
Employment Detail Summary from Revenue
Confirmation of employment status
Details of bonuses, overtime or commission
Employment contract where relevant
Financial records
Current-account statements
Savings-account statements
Credit-card statements
Statements for loans and other borrowings
Digital bank and fintech account statements
Evidence of rent payments
Evidence showing the source of your deposit
Six months of statements are commonly requested, although requirements differ between lenders.
If you are self-employed
You may need:
At least two years of certified accounts
Revenue tax documents
Business bank statements
Confirmation that tax affairs are in order
Details of current trading performance
Evidence of company salary, dividends or drawings
Confirmation from your accountant
Some lenders may ask for more than two years of trading history or apply different treatment to company profits and retained earnings.
Step 6: Compare lenders and apply for approval in principle
Approval in principle, usually called AIP, is an initial indication of how much a lender may be prepared to lend.
You can apply:
Directly to one or more lenders
Through an authorised mortgage broker
Through your local authority if you may qualify for a Local Authority Home Loan
Compare more than the advertised interest rate. Examine:
Annual percentage rate of charge, or APRC
Monthly repayment
Fixed-rate period
Rate after the fixed period ends
Total interest over the mortgage term
Overpayment rules
Possible early-repayment charges
Cashback conditions
Green mortgage eligibility
Loan-to-value bands
Flexibility if your circumstances change
Mortgage term
Broker charges, if any
APRC is intended to represent the overall annual cost of credit, including certain charges. It is generally more useful for comparisons than a headline rate alone, although it still relies on assumptions about how rates behave.
A cashback offer can help with immediate costs, but it does not necessarily produce the cheapest mortgage over five, ten or 30 years. Compare both the short-term benefit and the long-term cost.
If using a broker, check:
Whether the broker charges you a fee
Which lenders are on its panel
How it is paid by lenders
Whether it is listed on the Central Bank’s registers
What happens if your application is unsuccessful
Approval in principle is not a binding promise to lend. It is normally subject to updated documents, a suitable property, valuation, insurance and final underwriting.
Step 7: Find a property and make an offer
Once you have AIP, you can search within a realistic budget.
Before bidding, examine:
Recent sale prices on the Residential Property Price Register
The Building Energy Rating
Annual management fees for apartments
Planned major works in an apartment development
Local property tax
Flood risk
Planning history
Transport and commuting costs
Likely renovation requirements
Whether the property meets your lender’s conditions
When an offer is accepted, the property becomes “sale agreed”. You will normally pay a booking deposit to the estate agent.
The booking deposit is generally refundable until contracts are signed. Sale agreed does not make the transaction legally binding, and the seller can still consider other offers before contracts are completed.
Engage a conveyancing solicitor early. Conveyancing is the legal process of transferring the property into your ownership.
Step 8: Obtain formal mortgage approval for the property
The lender must assess the specific property before issuing a formal loan offer.
This normally requires:
A valuation by an approved valuer
Updated financial and employment documents
Evidence of the deposit
Confirmation of the source of funds
Property details
Mortgage protection arrangements
Buildings insurance
Legal checks by your solicitor
A valuation is primarily for the lender. It confirms the property’s estimated market value and suitability as security for the mortgage. It is not the same as a structural survey.
An independent survey or engineer’s inspection can identify problems such as:
Structural movement
Damp
Roof defects
Unauthorised extensions
Drainage issues
Boundary concerns
Fire-safety or building-compliance issues
Ireland’s property system places significant responsibility on the buyer to investigate a home before signing contracts. Skipping an independent inspection to save money can expose you to much larger repair costs.
Do not sign a binding contract until your solicitor is satisfied with the title and conditions and your finance is fully in place.
Step 9: Sign contracts, draw down the mortgage and collect the keys
Once contracts are signed by both sides, the purchase becomes legally binding, subject to the contract’s terms.
Before drawdown, the lender and solicitor will usually confirm:
The formal loan offer has been accepted
All loan conditions are satisfied
The valuation remains valid
Mortgage protection is in place
Buildings insurance is arranged
The title has been examined
Planning and compliance documents are acceptable
The balance of your funds is available
No material financial circumstances have changed
Your solicitor requests the mortgage money from the lender. On closing, the purchase money is transferred, the sale completes and the keys are released.
Avoid taking out new loans, changing employment or spending part of your deposit between approval and drawdown without discussing it with your lender. A material change can cause the lender to reassess the application.
Worked Example: Buying a €400,000 Home
Assume two first-time buyers have:
Combined gross income: €90,000
Purchase price: €400,000
Deposit: €40,000
Mortgage required: €360,000
Mortgage term: 30 years
Illustrative interest rate: 4%
Repayment basis: Capital and interest
No fees added to the loan
Borrowing limit
€90,000 × 4 = €360,000
Their required mortgage sits exactly at the standard first-time buyer income limit.
Deposit
€400,000 × 10% = €40,000
Illustrative mortgage repayment
A €360,000 repayment mortgage over 30 years at a constant 4% interest rate would cost approximately:
Monthly repayment: €1,719
Total repaid over 30 years: approximately €618,729
Total interest: approximately €258,729
Stamp duty
€400,000 × 1% = €4,000
The buyers therefore need at least €44,000 for the deposit and stamp duty alone. Legal fees, valuation, survey, insurance, registration, furnishings and repairs must be funded separately.
What if the interest rate were 5%?
Using the same loan and term:
Monthly repayment: approximately €1,933
Total interest over 30 years: approximately €335,720
That is roughly €214 more per month and approximately €76,991 more interest over the full term.
This comparison shows why buyers should test affordability at a higher rate instead of relying only on the initial fixed-rate repayment.
Methodology: Repayments use the standard capital-and-interest amortisation formula, assume the stated rate remains unchanged for the full 30 years and exclude fees, insurance and rate changes. Real mortgage products will produce different results.
Mortgage Supports Available in Ireland
Help to Buy
The Revenue Help to Buy scheme refunds qualifying Income Tax and Deposit Interest Retention Tax paid in Ireland during the relevant four-year period.
Under the rules checked in September 2026, the maximum relief is the lowest of:
€30,000
10% of the new home’s purchase price
10% of a self-build’s approved valuation
The qualifying Income Tax and DIRT paid during the relevant four years
The home must have a purchase value or approved valuation of no more than €500,000. The applicant must generally take out a qualifying mortgage of at least 70% of the property value.
The scheme applies to qualifying new builds and self-builds—not ordinary second-hand purchases. Applicants must be first-time buyers, use the property as their main home and satisfy Revenue’s tax-compliance conditions.
The qualifying purchase or self-build period currently runs to 31 December 2029, but buyers should verify this before relying on the support.
Applications are made through Revenue’s myAccount or ROS. Revenue can claw back relief where qualifying conditions are breached, including certain cases where the property stops being the applicant’s main home within five years.
First Home Scheme
The First Home Scheme is a shared-equity arrangement. It is not an ordinary mortgage or a cash grant.
In return for contributing towards the purchase or qualifying build cost, the scheme takes a percentage equity interest in the home.
Under the rules checked in September 2026:
Funding can reach 30% of the purchase price or build cost
The maximum is generally reduced to 20% when Help to Buy is also used
The minimum share is 2.5% or €10,000, whichever is higher
Local authority property-price ceilings apply
Applicants need approval from a participating lender
Applicants must generally borrow the maximum available from that lender
A 10% deposit is required
The scheme is available for specified qualifying property types
There is no service charge for the first five years. The published annual service-charge rates are:
PeriodAnnual rateYears 1–50%Years 6–151.75%Years 16–292.15%Year 30 onwards2.85%
The service charge does not buy back the equity share.
If the scheme owns 10% of your home, buying it out normally means paying 10% of the home’s relevant value at the time of redemption. If the home rises from €350,000 to €400,000, a 10% share could increase from €35,000 to €40,000, before any applicable service charges.
The scheme can reduce the mortgage needed, but the buyer gives up part of any increase in the property’s value. Its official website also states that the equity product is not regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
Local Authority Home Loan
The Local Authority Home Loan is a government-backed mortgage for eligible first-time buyers and Fresh Start applicants who cannot obtain sufficient finance from regulated commercial lenders.
It can be used for:
A new home
A second-hand home
A self-build
It can provide up to 90% of the property’s market value, subject to income, property-price, affordability and creditworthiness conditions.
Applicants normally need evidence of insufficient finance from two regulated financial providers. At least 3% of the purchase price must generally come from personal savings built up over a minimum period, with the balance of the deposit coming from an acceptable unborrowed source or qualifying support.
Income and property-price limits were changed from 1 April 2026. Because the applicable maximum can depend on location and household circumstances, applicants should use the official eligibility and loan calculators rather than relying on an undated summary.
The published rates in September 2026 were:
4.00% fixed for terms of up to 25 years, with 4.07% APR
4.05% fixed for terms from 26 to 30 years, with 4.13% APR
These rates can change before drawdown. Local Authority Mortgage Protection Insurance is an additional monthly cost.
Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme
Under the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme, qualifying homes are sold at a price below market value.
The local authority takes an equity interest matching the percentage discount. For example, a 20% discount normally produces a 20% local authority equity share.
Availability, prices and eligibility vary between developments and local authorities. It is not a nationwide supply of homes that can be used for any private property purchase.
The equity share may be repurchased, but its future cost will generally reflect the home’s value at that time. It is therefore important to distinguish the discounted purchase price from a non-repayable grant.
Advantages and Limitations of Taking Out a Mortgage
Potential advantages
Allows a home to be purchased without saving the full price
Repayments gradually build ownership equity
A fixed rate can provide short-term repayment certainty
Terms of up to several decades can reduce monthly repayments
Certain buyers can access tax refunds or shared-equity supports
Mortgage overpayments may reduce interest and shorten the term
Costs and risks
Interest can add hundreds of thousands of euro to the purchase cost
A longer term normally means more total interest
Repayments can rise when a fixed period ends
Early repayment charges may apply during a fixed term
The property can be repossessed if repayments are not maintained
Homeowners must fund insurance, maintenance, tax and repairs
Shared-equity supports can become more expensive to redeem if the home rises in value
Approval can be withdrawn before drawdown if circumstances change
A property may be difficult to sell if it has title, planning or structural problems
Common Mortgage Mistakes to Avoid
Treating four times income as guaranteed borrowing.
The lender’s affordability calculation may produce a lower figure.Saving only the deposit.
Stamp duty and transaction costs need a separate fund.Applying with disorganised statements.
Missing accounts or unexplained transfers can delay underwriting.Choosing a mortgage solely for cashback.
A higher long-term rate can outweigh the initial payment.Confusing valuation with structural inspection.
The lender’s valuation does not protect you from repair problems.Signing contracts before finance is secure.
A binding contract can leave the buyer exposed if the mortgage fails.Taking out new credit before drawdown.
A car loan or large credit-card balance can change affordability.Using every euro for the purchase.
Keep an emergency fund for repairs, furnishings and unexpected bills.
Mortgage Application Checklist
Before applying, check that you have:
Calculated your likely income limit
Built the required deposit
Set aside money for stamp duty and other costs
Maintained a consistent savings record
Reviewed your Central Credit Register report
Gathered statements from every financial account
Collected payslips and Revenue documents
Requested your employer’s salary certificate
Prepared certified accounts if self-employed
Compared APRCs and total repayment costs
Checked eligibility for housing supports
Chosen a solicitor
Budgeted for mortgage protection and buildings insurance
Frequently Asked Questions
How much deposit do I need for a mortgage in Ireland?
First-time buyers and second or subsequent owner-occupiers generally need at least 10% of the property price. Buy-to-let buyers generally need at least 30%. A lender may require a larger deposit in individual cases.
How much can a first-time buyer borrow?
The standard Central Bank limit is four times combined gross annual income. A couple earning €80,000 could therefore potentially borrow up to €320,000, subject to the lender’s affordability and credit assessment.
How long does mortgage approval take?
There is no universal timeframe. It depends on the lender, complexity of the application and whether all documents are supplied. Property, legal, valuation and insurance issues can add further time after AIP.
How many months of bank statements do I need?
Six months of statements are commonly requested for current, savings, credit-card and digital-bank accounts. A lender may request a longer period or additional documents.
Can I get a mortgage while on probation?
It is possible, but some lenders may require probation to be completed before issuing final approval or allowing drawdown. Treatment differs between lenders.
Can a single person get a mortgage in Ireland?
Yes. The same general first-time buyer limit of four times gross income applies, but one income must support the full repayment and living costs.
Can I get a mortgage if I am self-employed?
Yes. Lenders commonly request at least two years of certified accounts, tax documentation, business statements and evidence of sustainable earnings. Requirements vary according to lender and business structure.
Is approval in principle a guaranteed mortgage?
No. AIP is an initial indication based on the information available. The lender can still refuse or reduce the mortgage following final underwriting, a property valuation or a change in your circumstances.
Do I need mortgage protection?
Mortgage protection is generally required when taking out a mortgage on your home, although limited statutory exceptions can apply. Buildings insurance will also normally be required before drawdown. You are not obliged to buy either policy from your mortgage lender.
Final Thoughts
Getting a mortgage in Ireland is mainly about proving three things: you have the deposit, you can sustainably afford the repayments and the property is acceptable security for the lender.
Start by calculating the standard income limit, but build your personal budget around the repayment you can comfortably manage. Prepare six months of clean and complete financial records, compare the total cost across lenders and keep money aside for stamp duty, legal work, inspection and emergencies.
Government supports can bridge a genuine funding gap, but Help to Buy, shared equity and local authority loans have different costs and conditions. Verify the live rules before signing a contract or making a major financial commitment.
Financial information disclaimer: This article provides general information and does not constitute personal financial, legal, tax or mortgage advice. Interest rates, lending policies, property ceilings and government-scheme rules can change. Consult the relevant official body and, where appropriate, an authorised mortgage adviser, solicitor, tax adviser or other regulated professional.
Information checked and updated: September 2026