The expansion of the Help-to-Buy scheme this week has already inflated property prices, according to Sinn Féin.

The Government extended the scheme as part of the July Stimulus Package it announced this week.

The extension will allow first time buyers to claim up to 10% or €30,000 back on the cost of a new home. That is up from the 5% or €20,000 that was previously available.

Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin told Newstalk that prices of some properties jumped €10,000 overnight after the announcement.

“We know that Help-to-Buy inflates property prices and developers simply pocket the extra money,” he said.

“Therefore, first-time buyers don’t get any benefit from these schemes whatsoever. In fact, all it serves to do is push up the price, make it more expensive to get on the property ladder and it is a terrible waste of taxpayers’ money.”

Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien must decide whether Govt sets the price of affordable housing or if they let the market decide.

Hidden shared equity charges push up the price working people have to pay while private developers make all the gains. pic.twitter.com/BfuOIlEIVj

— Eoin Ó Broin (@EOBroin) July 24, 2020

He said he has already been contacted by people in Kildare, Cork and in parts of Dublin about the increases.

“I am not surprised at all,” he said. “Philip Lane, when he was the Governor the Central Bank, gave evidence to the Finance Committee to say that in fact these types of help to buy schemes in fact don’t help people to buy at all, they simply push up property prices.

“It would have been much better if this money was invested in local authorities to deliver genuinely affordable homes rather than make private sector homes more expensive for struggling first time buyers.”

Raising the Help to Buy to cover the full deposit of 10% is particularly odd

It will benefit those who dont need it, who were already buying a home & wont actually stimulate new building

It also smacks of a return to 100% mortgages which breach the Central Bank lending rules

— Eoin Ó Broin (@EOBroin) July 23, 2020

He said the buyer will be faced with the original bill but warned that “ultimately the taxpayer will also pay the difference.”

“So, this is great deal for private sector developers but it is bad for struggling first-time buyers and it is bad for the taxpayer,” he said.

The Government said the extension will last until December of this year and will cos the taxpayer €18m.