First Time Buyer Interest Relief – Purchase before last day of 2011 to maximise relief | O2 - The ideas room

First Time Buyer Interest Relief – Purchase before last day of 2011 to maximise relief | O2 - The ideas room

Since Budget 2011, the exemption from stamp duty for first time buyers is no longer available. They will now have to pay stamp duty like all other purchasers of 1% of the purchase price where the price is less than €1 million. However, while the by now weary prospective first time buyer may have to come up with €3,000 to cover the stamp duty on a €300,000 purchase, all is not bad.

The piece of good news is that for first time buyers, a potentially valuable entitlement to mortgage interest relief is still available at the prevailing rates.
First time buyers should be aware that if they buy their home by 31 December 2011, they could end up paying as much as €25,200 less in mortgage repayments over a 7 year period compared to the same purchase should it occur in 2012. This is a considerable saving and lessens the impact of the stamp duty changes.