You need at least 10% of the purchase price as a deposit for a home you’ll live in, and 30% for a buy to let or second property. On the national median price of €395,000, that’s €39,500. Stamp duty, legal fees and survey costs come on top, in cash, and can’t be added to the mortgage.
That’s the short version. The longer version is where people get caught out, because the deposit is rarely the thing that stops you. Your income usually is.
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The 10% rule, and where it comes from
The Central Bank sets loan-to-value limits that every regulated lender in Ireland must follow. According to Citizens Information’s guidance on mortgage lending limits, a 90% LTV limit applies to property that will be your primary residence, which means a 10% deposit. For anything that won’t be your main home, including buy to lets, the limit is 70% LTV, so you need 30%.
The same rules cap what you can borrow against your income. First-time buyers of a primary residence can borrow 4 times gross annual income. Everyone else is capped at 3.5 times.
Both limits apply at once. Having the deposit is no use if the mortgage you need breaches the income cap.
Common mistake: assuming a bigger deposit unlocks a bigger mortgage. It doesn’t. The income multiple is a separate ceiling, and clearing one doesn’t move the other.
What a house deposit costs at six real prices
Households paid a median of €395,000 for a home in the 12 months to May 2026, according to the CSO’s Residential Property Price Index. Dublin’s median was €500,000. The lowest was Longford at €198,000.
Here’s what that means for you, assuming you borrow the maximum 90%.
Purchase price
10% deposit
90% mortgage
Gross income needed (first-time buyer, 4x)
Gross income needed (mover, 3.5x)
€200,000
€20,000
€180,000
€45,000
€51,429
€250,000
€25,000
€225,000
€56,250
€64,286
€300,000
€30,000
€270,000
€67,500
€77,143
€395,000 (national median)
€39,500
€355,500
€88,875
€101,571
€450,000
€45,000
€405,000
€101,250
€115,714
€500,000 (Dublin median)
€50,000
€450,000
€112,500
€128,571
Look at the last two columns before you look at the first one. To buy at the national median as a first-time buyer, you or you and your partner combined need to be earning close to €89,000. That’s the real barrier for most people, not the €39,500.
Lenders can breach these limits for a share of their business. Citizens Information confirms that in a calendar year, lenders can exceed the LTI and LTV limits for up to 15% of the value of their primary residence lending. These are usually called exemptions, and they’re rationed. Don’t build a plan around getting one.
The cash you need is more than the deposit
Your deposit is the biggest number but it isn’t the only one. Stamp duty and legal costs have to come out of savings.
Stamp duty on residential property is 1% on the first €1 million, 2% between €1 million and €1.5 million, and 6% above that. On a new build it’s charged on the price excluding VAT. Revenue’s guidance on VAT-exclusive consideration says you divide the price by 1.135 to get the figure duty is calculated on.
Three worked examples:
First-time buyer, second-hand home, €300,000
Deposit: €30,000
Stamp duty (1%): €3,000
Help to Buy: not available on second-hand homes
Known cash needed: €33,000, plus solicitor, valuation and survey
First-time buyer, new build, €375,000, using Help to Buy
Deposit: €37,500
Help to Buy refund: up to €30,000 (see the conditions below)
Known cash needed: €10,804, plus solicitor, valuation and survey
Mover, second-hand home, €450,000
Deposit: €45,000
Stamp duty (1%): €4,500
Known cash needed: €49,500, plus solicitor, valuation and survey
Citizens Information’s page on the costs of buying a home confirms there’s no fixed rate for legal fees, and that some solicitors charge a flat fee while others charge a percentage. VAT applies on top. Get three written quotes and check each one includes VAT, or you’re not comparing like with like.
When each euro is actually due
Nobody hands over the full deposit on day one. It comes in stages, and the stages matter if your money is sitting in a fixed-term account or in another country.
Booking deposit. Paid to the estate agent when your offer is accepted. Citizens Information notes these vary and can be a set amount such as €5,000 or a small percentage of your offer. Importantly, it’s refundable right up until you sign contracts.
Balance of the deposit. Due at contract signing. From that point the money is committed. Your solicitor will confirm the exact figure and date.
Stamp duty and legal fees. Your solicitor calculates the stamp duty, asks you for it, and pays it to Revenue.
Mortgage drawdown. The lender releases the loan and the sale closes.
Pro tip: with Help to Buy, the refund is paid directly to the contractor, not to you. So check with your solicitor how the booking deposit and contract deposit are funded in the meantime. People are caught short here more often than you’d think.
What counts as a deposit, and what doesn’t
Savings. The CCPC’s guidance on sorting out your deposit says banks want to see a regular savings habit over at least six months, on top of paying rent and bills. Keep the money in an account separate from your current account. If you’re renting, that rent record helps demonstrate you can repay.
A gift from family. Perfectly normal, but there’s tax. Under Capital Acquisitions Tax rules, CAT is charged at 33% above your threshold. The Group A threshold, which covers a child receiving from a parent, is €400,000 across your lifetime since December 1991. On top of that, the small gift exemption lets you receive €3,000 from any one person per calendar year with no CAT and no return to file. Two parents can therefore give €6,000 a year that doesn’t touch the lifetime threshold.
Borrowed money. Generally not. The clearest published statement of this is in the Local Authority Home Loan FAQ, which requires the deposit to come from personal savings and “unborrowed” sources. Banks take the same view. A personal loan also damages your affordability assessment twice over.
The First Home Scheme. This is not a deposit. The First Home Scheme eligibility rules require you to have a minimum deposit of 10% of the purchase price, to borrow the maximum available from a participating lender, and to not be using a lender exception. The scheme’s equity sits on top of your deposit and mortgage, not instead of them.
Help to Buy: the two rules that catch new arrivals
The Help to Buy Scheme can put up to €30,000 towards a deposit on a newly built or self-built home worth €500,000 or less. It runs to 31 December 2029. You get the lesser of €30,000, 10% of the market value, or the income tax and DIRT you paid in Ireland in the 4 years before you apply.
If you moved to Ireland recently, read that last condition again.
Trap one: only Irish tax counts, over four years. If you’ve been paying Irish income tax for two years rather than four, your refund is capped at what you actually paid here. Someone who arrived in 2024 will get considerably less than €30,000, no matter what the house costs. Check your figure in Revenue’s myAccount before you budget around it.
Trap two: owning a home abroad disqualifies you completely. Citizens Information is explicit that you won’t qualify if you have owned a home abroad. An apartment in Warsaw, a family house in São Paulo, a flat you co-own in Mumbai. It doesn’t matter that it isn’t in Ireland.
Warning: a third catch applies to everyone. Your mortgage must be at least 70% of the purchase value. If a First Home Scheme contribution shrinks your mortgage below that line, you lose Help to Buy entirely. Citizens Information gives the worked example: a €300,000 home with a €180,000 mortgage and €45,000 of First Home equity gives a 60% LTV, so no Help to Buy. Combining the two also cuts the First Home share from 30% to 20%.
Look at the Local Authority Home Loan. It’s a state-backed mortgage for people who can’t get enough finance from banks. The eligibility rules require gross income under €80,000 single (increased from €70,000 on 1 April 2026) or €85,000 joint, at least two years of continuous employment as primary applicant, and repayments under one third of household income.
The deposit structure is unusual and worth knowing. The scheme’s FAQ says your 10% can be made up of personal savings of at least 3% of the property value, plus up to 7% from an unborrowed source such as a gift. Those personal savings must be built up over at least 12 months with statements to prove it. Fixed rates are 4.00% for terms up to 25 years and 4.05% for 26 to 30 years.
Reduce the target instead of raising the deposit. Ten percent of €250,000 is €25,000. Ten percent of €395,000 is €39,500. Moving your search area does more, faster, than any savings plan.
If you’ve been refused twice. Citizens Information notes that two refused mortgage applications may open the door to the Local Authority Home Loan. Ask each lender in writing why you were refused. Common reasons include a deposit that’s too small, being inside a probation period, or bank statements that don’t show consistent saving.
Frequently asked questions
Can I buy a house in Ireland with a 5% deposit? Not through a standard mortgage. The 90% LTV limit is set by regulation and applies to every regulated lender. The only way your own cash outlay drops below 10% is Help to Buy on a new build, where the refund covers part of the deposit for you.
Do I need a bigger deposit if I’m not an Irish citizen? The Central Bank rules are the same for everyone buying a primary residence: 10%. Individual lenders set their own additional criteria around residency status, visa type and how long you’ve been working in Ireland, and these vary a lot between banks. Ask a broker to check which lenders suit your situation before you apply anywhere.
How much deposit do I need for a second home or buy to let? Thirty percent. The LTV limit for property that won’t be your primary residence is 70%, and the loan-to-income limits don’t apply to buy to let mortgages at all.
Can my parents give me the deposit? Yes. Watch the tax: €3,000 per person per calendar year is exempt under the small gift exemption, and beyond that it counts against the €400,000 lifetime Group A threshold before 33% CAT applies. Your lender will want documentation showing the money is a gift and not a loan.
Does Help to Buy work on a second-hand house? No. It only applies to newly built homes and self-builds that have never been used as a residence before. If you’re buying second-hand, budget for the full 10% in cash.
Your next steps
Work out your borrowing ceiling first. Multiply gross household income by 4 (or 3.5 if you’re not a first-time buyer). Add 11% of that figure to get your realistic purchase price. That number sets everything else.
Open a separate savings account today if you haven’t, and start a standing order you can sustain for at least six months.
Check your Help to Buy position in myAccount before you count on €30,000. Confirm your four-year tax figure and confirm you’ve never owned property anywhere.
Get three solicitor quotes including VAT, so the closing costs stop being a guess.
Talk to a broker before applying anywhere. Lenders differ on how they treat overtime, bonuses, foreign income and visa status, and one application is easier to fix than three refusals.
