More than 10,000 homebuyers have now been approved by the First Home Scheme, with €354 million extended to people who have bought homes or built their own, new figures show.

The First Home scheme was set up by government to provide funding to first-time buyers who, despite having a deposit and mortgage approval, still could not cover the cost of a newly built home.

In exchange for the funding, the scheme takes an equity stake of up to 30 per cent in the property. Homebuyers can buy that stake back over time, if they choose to do so.

Some 1,037 approvals have taken place in the first quarter of this year and the scheme has now supported 5,329 home purchases to date.

A total of 10,045 buyers in all 26 counties have been approved and have received eligibility certificates allowing them to buy or build their chosen home. More than 23,000 potential buyers or self-builders have registered their interest in the scheme.

The average price for homes purchased or built using the scheme is about €390,000, while the average support being provided by the First Home Scheme to date is about €66,000, or 17 per cent of the average purchase price.

Two-thirds of scheme users also avail of the Help to Buy initiative that allows first-time buyers of new property to claim back up to €30,000 or 10 per cent of the purchase price, whichever is the lesser, from income tax and bank interest Dirt [deposit interest retention tax] they have paid over the previous four years.

Some 71 per cent of approvals have been for buyers in Dublin, Cork, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow, with the remaining 29 per cent spread across the other 21 counties.

First Home Scheme chief executive Michael Broderick said its continued growth was “great news for first-time buyers in particular”, adding that momentum is growing.

Iran’s cyber-attacks on Irish-based companies and the ongoing impact of conflict in the Middle East

“The first quarter was also notable, given we supported our 5,000th home purchase – a significant milestone which is only achievable through a lot of hard work and support from several stakeholders, including the Department of Housing and participating lenders,” he said.

“The success of the scheme is critically important at a time when support for first-time buyers and other buyers is required. I look forward to overseeing further progress this year and beyond.”

Data from the banks last week showed the value of mortgage approvals reached almost €1.2 billion in February, which was an increase of more than 10 per cent compared with the same period last year. It was also the highest February value since the data series began in 2011.

Figures from Banking and Payments Federation Ireland showed 3,649 mortgages were approved in the month, representing a rise of 6.7 per cent compared with the same period last year.

First-time buyers were approved for 2,316 mortgages, which was 63.5 per cent of the total volume.