Yes this rate applies to graduates of degree courses...
I bank with Bank of Ireland...have for many years. I found them very unapproachable as a single buyer even with their graduate rate of 95%.
You don't need 8% deposit for the local government shared ownership scheme.
The affordable housing scheme is being underwritten by BOI and for this you can borrow 97%. I don't know if the shared ownership scheme will be underwritten by BOI but I'd say in the future it will be. However, there's currently a limit of what you can borrow on the shared ownership scheme (200K I think) and in most areas that is not enough to buy much...if anything!
This doesn't make sense when the last affordable houses sold in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown were well over this threshold.
Don't have the option of a guarantor myself so don't know if you could get more than 92% if you did.
This was in yesterday's Irish Times:
'Bank of Ireland has started processing mortgage applications for people who have been allocated a house through local authority affordable housing schemes.
The bank's breakthrough mortgage allows qualifying customers to borrow up to 97 per cent of the purchase price of the properties, which are provided to applicants at discounted prices.
First-time buyers are normally only allowed borrow up to 92 per cent of the property price, requiring them to save an 8 per cent deposit.
Some 11,000 affordable homes are expected to come on the market over the next two to three years.
Joe Larkin, managing director of Bank of Ireland Mortgages, said it had received a large number of queries since it announced its intention last November to become the first private alternative source of credit for the affordable housing market.
Up to now, mortgage finance for affordable housing has only been available from local authorities through the Housing Finance Agency, but the maximum loan available was €165,000.
There is no limit on the loan size at Bank of Ireland, subject to applicants' repayment capacity. The bank's standard range of interest rates applies and terms of up to 35 years are available.
The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is in negotiations with several other lenders to bring out similar mortgages.
EBS is among those planning on entering the market.'