Budget 2027 for housing and planning: what changed
Updated 15:00, 6 October 2026
Confirmed in the Budget documents: Rent a Room rises from €14,000 to €16,000 from 1 January 2027 and now covers new garden units; Help to Buy rises to €35,000 from 7 October 2026; a new Derelict Property Tax at 7%; and a further chance to seek rezoning, with a possible 2027 exemption, under RZLT. No change to VAT on new apartments.
MetroLink’s €6bn for 2027 to 2030 is in Minister Chambers’ expenditure speech as RTÉ reported it; we have not yet read the official text, so it stays labelled as reported. The expenditure documents (also the Commission, Croí Cónaithe and development contributions) were behind gov.ie’s security check when we looked, and those rows say so until we have read them.
Measure by measure
| Measure | Before | After | From | Source | On Planning Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MetroLink funding Reported (RTÉ, 6 Oct), to confirm | Railway order granted October 2025 | €6bn over 2027 to 2030, in Minister Chambers' expenditure speech as RTÉ reported it at 14:02. Official text not yet read | 2027 to 2030 | RTÉ News live blog, 6 Oct 2026 | 16 stations from Estuary to Charlemont. We counted the planning applications within 1 km of each one. |
| Rent a Room relief Confirmed | €14,000 a year tax-free | €16,000 a year tax-free, and it now covers new Designated Auxiliary Dwellings (garden units) installed after 27 July 2026 | 1 January 2027 | Tax Policy Changes, §3.2, page 6 | Tax-free income from a lodger in your own home, or from a garden unit that meets the 2026 exempted-development rules (S.I. 340 of 2026). |
| Help to Buy Confirmed | Up to €30,000 | Up to €35,000; the other limits (10% of the price, tax paid in 4 years) unchanged | 7 October 2026 | Tax Policy Changes, §3.3, page 6 | First-time buyers of new homes. The new homes on the register are in the named schemes. |
| Housing spending Confirmed | — | “Over €9 billion building new homes” this year (Minister for Finance). Reported by RTÉ from Minister Chambers' speech, to confirm: €9.4bn for the Department of Housing, including €5.6bn capital, of which €3.2bn for 11,250 new social homes and over €1bn for the Starter Homes Programme | — | Minister for Finance's speech, Housing | Named housing schemes on the register, and homes with permission that have not started. |
| Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) Confirmed | 3% of market value a year | Rate unchanged. Landowners get a further chance to ask for land on the revised 2027 map to be rezoned, and in some cases an exemption for 2027 | 2027 map (Finance (No. 2) Bill 2026) | Tax Policy Changes, §3.4, page 6 | The parcels on each council's RZLT map, and how many hectares each council has. |
| Derelict Property Tax (new); Vacant Homes Tax Confirmed | Councils' derelict sites registers and levy | New Derelict Property Tax at 7% of the self-assessed value, collected by Revenue, on residential and non-residential property. Year 1: 107 towns and cities of 4,000+. Vacant Homes Tax: no change announced | Preliminary registers 1 Sept 2027; first pay and file 23 June 2028 | Tax Policy Changes, Chapter 7, page 14 | Council derelict sites registers, shown near any address. |
| Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant (Croí Cónaithe) Not yet confirmed | Up to €50,000 vacant, €70,000 derelict (islands €60,000, €84,000) | Not in the Finance speech or the tax measures; the expenditure documents are being checked | — | — | Whether a vacant or derelict home near you is on a council register. |
| VAT on new apartments Not in the Budget | — | No change: not among the Budget's tax measures | — | Tax Policy Changes (no VAT measure on housing) | Apartment and build-to-rent applications, and how often councils grant them. |
| Development contributions and water connection charges Not yet confirmed | — | Not in the Finance speech or the tax measures; the expenditure documents are being checked | — | — | What a planning application costs, from the fee to the contribution. |
| An Coimisiún Pleanála funding Not yet confirmed | — | Not in the Finance speech or the tax measures; the expenditure documents are being checked | — | — | How long decisions take, and how often an appeal overturns the council. |
MetroLink: what’s planned near the stations
Within 1 km of MetroLink’s 16 stations, the councils and the Commission received 4,784 planning applications in the last 5 years. Schemes of 10 or more homes there add up to 5,089 homes granted and 775 awaiting a decision; 51 applications are open for observations today.
How to read this page
- Confirmed the speech or a Budget document states it; the source names the document and section. Sources: Budget 2027: Tax Policy Changes, Minister Harris's Budget 2027 speech.
- Reported (RTÉ, 6 Oct), to confirm reported before the speech on RTÉ News live blog, 6 Oct 2026. Not final.
- Not in the Budget the Budget documents make no change to it.
- Not yet confirmed not in the documents we have read yet.
- Tax figures are given with their rule and source. This page is not tax advice and does not say whether any measure applies to you.
Other measures (income tax, capital gains tax cut from 33% to 31%, the Rent Tax Credit, carbon tax on home heating) are outside housing and planning; the Tax Policy Changes document has them.
Check what’s planned near you
Every planning application, appeal and RZLT parcel near any Irish address, with the date observations close. Search an address →