From Department of Finance; Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
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The commencement order for the Home Building Finance Ireland Act 2018 was signed by the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe TD yesterday (Wednesday), following the signing of the Bill into law by the President earlier this week.
The enactment of this legislation allows for the establishment of Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI) as a new company which will finance commercially viable residential developments within the State.
Welcoming the enactment of the HBFI legislation Minister Donohoe said:
“The passage of this legislation lays the foundations for HBFI to begin lending and financing new homes. With €750 million of funding available from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund HBFI will be endowed with the capacity to make a meaningful impact in bridging the shortfall in the supply of housing in Ireland.
“Now that this important legislative hurdle is cleared, the focus will turn to ensuring that HBFI hits the ground running as soon as possible. HBFI’s website will be launched in the coming weeks, where prospective borrowers can receive more information on loans which will be available. HBFI will commence accepting loan applications by the end of January 2019.”
Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy TD also noted the positive impact HBFI will have on the State’s residential market:
“The lack of access to debt funding has been identified as a considerable obstacle for many smaller and medium sized builders and developers. This scheme will be of particular benefit to those firms by providing the credit needed to realise the potential of their viable residential sites. The additional finance provided by HBFI, along with other initiatives laid out in Rebuilding Ireland, will help boost residential construction across the country.”
Michael Broderick, HBFI Project Lead, said:
“The enactment of the legislation creates the necessary conditions for HBFI to come into effect and the HBFI project team is on schedule to deliver what the Oireachtas has mandated HBFI to do – creating a vibrant, effective organisation that will help to fill the financing gap that currently exists for commercially viable small and medium residential developments in areas of high demand.”
A copy of the legislation as passed by the Oireachtas can be found here .
HBFI will be established as a Designated Activity Company (DAC) for the purpose of lending money to finance commercially viable residential developments within the State. The new company will be an independent entity, with its own board and CEO and the Minister of Finance will be the sole shareholder.
HBFI is envisaged as a temporary entity and its operations will be reviewed regularly to determine whether it has achieved its objective of addressing the shortfall in the supply of housing within the State.
The loans provided by HBFI will be at commercial market equivalent rates and will not constitute cheap or subsidised funding for developers. The terms of each loan will be assessed upon the risk profile of each project, the quality of collateral and the creditworthiness of each applicant.
The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) will provide €750 million in funding to HBFI (€20 million in equity and €730 million in loans) which will enable HBFI to finance up to 7,500 residential units over the coming years.
An official launch for HBFI will take place in late January 2019.
The Home Building Finance Act 2018 also contains a number of technical changes in relation to the collection of Local Property Tax (LPT). These changes mirror those already enacted in Finance Act 2017, allowing for the continued collection of LPT in line with PAYE modernisation due to come into effect 1 January 2019 and also extend Mortgage Interest Deferral Relief for LTP for qualifying persons until the end of 2019.