Dublin, Ireland, Tuesday 7 October 2026: Property advisor, Savills Ireland has welcomed the measures announced in Budget 2026 aimed at improving housing supply, particularly the reduction in VAT on the sale of new apartments from 13.5% to 9% until 2030 – something Savills first called for back in 2023 – and the introduction of corporation tax relief for cost-rental developments.

John Ring, Director of Research at Savills Ireland, said the VAT cut represents a meaningful and well-targeted intervention that will help improve project viability and unlock stalled schemes.

“The reduction in VAT on apartment sales to 9% gives developers and funders the certainty needed to move projects forward,” he said.

“This is a welcome, practical measure that should help close the viability gap and stimulate much-needed apartment construction across our cities. We acknowledge that this was a complex decision, only made possible by changes to the VAT code at a European level in recent years that allowed for a reduction in the Vat rate for housing only on the grounds of “social policy”. The government have clearly satisfied themselves that reducing VAT for all apartment construction falls within this EU definition – but that cannot have been an easy conclusion to arrive at.”

Help-to-Buy cap unchanged since 2017 – “removes the scheme by stealth”

However, Savills were critical that the limit of €500,000 for the Help-to-Buy (HTB) scheme was not increased, describing it as an important support for first-time buyers.

“When the €500,000 cap was introduced in 2017, it reflected the market conditions at that time,” he explained. “Because it hasn’t been adjusted for inflation, its real value has eroded – in today’s terms, that €500,000 is equivalent to roughly €400,000. If the cap had kept pace with CPI, it would now stand at around €630,000.

Indexing the cap to CPI would maintain its real value without being inflationary, unlike linking it to house price inflation, which would push the cap to close to €900,000. Last year the HTB was extended to 2029 but by not increasing the threshold with CPI, the government are in effect removing the scheme by stealth.”

Savills also noted that an election manifesto promise to increase the total HTB refund from €30,000 to €40,000 also did not occur.

Unchanged commercial stamp duty rate – “acting as a brake on investment”

Turning to the commercial property sector, Savills expressed disappointment that the commercial stamp duty rate remains at 7.5%, unchanged since 2019.

“The rate was increased when the market was strong – today it is subdued,” said Mr Ring.

“At 7.5%, Ireland’s rate is among the highest in Europe and is now acting as a brake on investment and development. Reverting to 2% would help attract international capital, support the repositioning of older office stock to meet ESG standards, and prevent future supply shortages across offices, logistics, and retail.”