{"id":173416,"date":"2025-12-03T19:55:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T19:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/173416\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T19:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T19:55:12","slug":"high-rents-mean-meeting-mortgage-payment-no-longer-the-major-concern-for-aspiring-homebuyers-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/173416\/","title":{"rendered":"High rents mean meeting mortgage payment no longer the major concern for aspiring homebuyers \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

High rents<\/a> mean first-time buyers<\/a> are no longer so concerned about meeting mortgage payments<\/a> but a growing number worry that rising property prices<\/a> mean they simply will not be able to borrow enough in the first place to buy a home.<\/p>\n

The number of prospective home buyers paying between \u20ac1,000 and \u20ac2,000 in rent has more than doubled since 2017, according to research conducted on behalf of Bank of Ireland.<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2017, just one in five prospective home buyers was paying rent of between \u20ac1,000 and \u20ac2,000. This year, that figure has surged to 48 per cent.<\/p>\n

High rents have resulted in those seeking to buy property no longer regarding managing future mortgage payments as a big issue, with 89 per cent feeling secure about their ability to do so. <\/p>\n

The biggest obstacle to home ownership now is the cost of property, accordfing to the research conducted by Red C in mid-September as part of a long-running survey series. More than 200 people aged between 25-45 who expressed plans to \u2018buy or build their first home in the next few years\u2019 were polled.<\/p>\n

The number of aspiring home buyers citing the cost of available homes as the biggest challenge for young people has dramatically increased from just 41 per cent in 2017 to 61 per cent this year.<\/p>\n

On top of high rents, 50 per cent of the cohort reported saving between \u20ac500 and \u20ac1000 each month towards deposits.<\/p>\n

\"\"If Irish households are so rich, why does it feel like an illusion?<\/p>\n

Increasingly, those hoping to buy in the coming years say they are financially prepared to do so. While more than a third of respondents are hoping to build or buy in the next six months, 84 per cent have a deposit saving plan in place – up from 74 per cent in 2017.<\/p>\n

Amid a challenging rental market, 69 per cent of young people expressed the expectation that they will feel more settled and secure upon owning property while 59 per cent expect it will give them a greater sense of independence and control.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst-time buyers are not just thinking about getting on the property ladder, they\u2019re planning for greener homes, lower energy bills and a more sustainable future,\u201d said Alan Hartley, the director of home buying at Bank of Ireland.<\/p>\n

Nearly 90 per cent of first-time buyers value BER (building energy rating) of homes, the survey found.<\/p>\n

Mr Hartley said it was encouraging to see \u201cso many buyers prioritising BER ratings\u201d and noted that savings habits among hopeful first-time buyers are stronger now that in the past.<\/p>\n

It is not just environmental concerns that are shaping home buyers\u2019 priorities. Remote working opportunities also also influencing purchasing decisions, as 40 per cent of the cohort admitting they are reconsidering where they want to live based on the option of working from home or remotely.<\/p>\n

A quarter of respondents also reported that remote working is leading to them rethinking the type of property they would be interested in buying, with just over one-fifth (22 per cent) of prospective homebuyers accelerating their plans to buy as a result.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"High rents mean first-time buyers are no longer so concerned about meeting mortgage payments but a growing number…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1153,7863,40894,72,30559,3662,61,60,16487,3665],"class_list":{"0":"post-173416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-sustainability","9":"tag-bank-of-ireland","10":"tag-ber-rating","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-first-time-buyer","13":"tag-housing-crisis","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-mortgages","17":"tag-renting"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}