Cork county local authority home loans are more likely to be rejected according to report

MORE applicants for the Local Authority Home Loan in Cork County have been rejected than approved according to figures released at a recent Southern Committee meeting.

Cork County Council Senior Executive Officer Seamus De Faoite revealed the figure during a housing report at the latest southern committee meeting of the local authority.

As part of Housing for All, a Local Authority Home Loan was initiated in January 2022. This is a Government backed mortgage for first time buyers and other eligible applicants delivered through local authorities. The scheme provides mortgage financing for those who are unable to secure a sufficient commercial loan.

The figures for home loans for this year which were released by Mr De Faoite showed that there were 176 valid applicants in Cork County for the Home Loan this year with 57 of these in the South Cork area.

61 applicants were approved, with 21 approved in South Cork. 79 applicants were refused with 22 in South Cork.

Mr De Faoite said that 33 applications are currently being processed with 13 of these in South Cork.

He also revealed that the average approved amount for the 61 successful applicants was €171,715 with the average amount for the successful applicants in South Cork coming in at €167,805.

Fine Gael TD for Cork North Central Colm Burke voiced his ‘disappointment’ with the high refusal figures.

“There is a high percentage of refusals for home loan applications. This is the middle-income group who can’t get a loan from a bank and can’t get local authority housing. I am disappointed with these figures because we really need to be so proactive in helping young people,” he said.

Deputy Burke said more ‘flexibility’ from local authorities is required. “People need to be supported and rather than giving a blanket look at people’s applications there should be more flexibility.

“People feel very frustrated and feel the whole system is against them. In a lot of cases the money they are paying back in loan repayments is far less than the rent they are currently paying. I have one case now where they are paying back €1,200 a month and their current rent is €1,600 a month.

“Another problem is the lack of competition amongst the banks as their numbers have gone down. The banks can pick and choose who they want to lend to,” he added.