The move should mean more buyers qualify for the First Home Scheme due to the increases in price ceilings for 17 counties or local authority areas, the company behind the scheme said.
The First Home Scheme is a €740m fund set up to help first-time buyers bridge the gap between their mortgage, deposit and the price of a new home.
Accusations in the past that the scheme adds to housing inflation have been rejected by the scheme.
Recent figures showed that homebuyers who use the shared-equity scheme are getting average financial support of €66,000.
The hike in the thresholds follows the latest of the scheme’s scheduled twice-yearly reviews of the price ceilings that apply to qualifying homes.
The review has resulted in increased price ceilings in 17 of Ireland’s 31 local authority areas, with each of these 17 local authority areas seeing an increase of €25,000 in the relevant ceiling.
The local authority areas seeing an increase are Carlow, Kerry, Roscommon, Cavan, Laois, Tipperary, Cork City, Leitrim, Waterford city and county, Donegal, Longford, Westmeath, Galway city, Meath, Wexford, Galway county and Monaghan.
The changes mean the ceiling for a house or an apartment in Cork city will rise to €500,000. This is the level it remains at in Dublin city, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, South Dublin, and Wicklow.
In Galway city the new threshold will be €475,000, in line with the existing thresholds in Kildare and Meath.
Galway county has seen the new ceiling set at €450,000 for houses and apartments. Cork county remains unchanged at €450,000.
Limerick city now has a threshold of €425,000 for houses and €450,000 for apartments, with Louth now at €425,000 for both houses and apartments.
For Waterford city and county, the threshold is now €400,000 for houses and €450,000 for apartments.
A threshold of €400,000 for both houses and apartments has been set for Mayo, Kilkenny, Laois, Westmeath, Wexford and Kerry.
Clare, Sligo, Offaly, Carlow, Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Longford, Monaghan, Roscommon and Tipperary now have a threshold of €375,000 for both houses and apartments.
The scheme is for new homes and self builds.
The First Home Scheme can provide a maximum of 30pc of the purchase price (20pc if the buyer is also using the Help to Buy scheme).
The changes, which took effect on January 1, should allow more first-time buyers to qualify for the scheme.
These people would have been ineligible for the scheme until now if the price of their chosen home was above the price ceiling for their local authority area. The changes may also encourage the supply of additional new homes in areas with low stock of new homes currently, First Home said.
The aim of the new price ceilings is to ensure the scheme can benefit as many people as possible without causing distortion in local housing markets, the company said.
Housing Minister James Browne said by raising the ceilings under the First Home Scheme more first‑time buyers and other eligible applicants will be supported to secure a home.
First Home Scheme chief executive Michael Broderick said: “The First Home Scheme is designed to be flexible and adaptive to market conditions as they evolve.”
This article was amended at 12.45pm on December 2 to reflect that thresholds in Dublin City, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, South Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, Meath and Cork county remain unchanged.