Wexford homeowners spend €24.1m on home renovations
WEXFORD homeowners have spent €24.1 million through the Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) since its launch in 2013.
This incentive has facilitated homeowners throughout the country in carrying out 107,386 home improvement projects over the last four years.
In Wexford, the average spend was €12,187, compared to a national spend of €16,187 per project, providing a huge boost to the Irish economy and employment in the construction sector.
A total of 1978 projects were funded through the HRI in the Model County between 2013/14 and 2018, with 369 projects so far this year.
The Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) provides homeowners with an Income Tax credit at 13.5 per cent of qualifying expenditure on home improvement works carried out on a main home or rental property by qualifying contractors. The scheme has proven successful in every county by encouraging investment in the upgrading of private and rental property, fuelled in part by increased awareness about energy efficiency.
Broken down by value, the largest amount of work was carried out completing home extensions (34 per cent), followed by general repair and renovations (25 per cent) and then window replacement (10 per cent) and kitchen replacement (10 per cent). The scheme, which has been extended until the end of December, 2018, was introduced initially in late 2013, but its extension to rental properties in late 2014 has also added further activity to this sector. Dublin dwellers are spending the most on average at €18,721 per project, followed by Donegal €17,870 and Clare at €16,682. CIF Director General, Tom Parlon said the HRI scheme has contributed greatly to the level of construction activity throughout the country since its introduction.
‘ These 107,386 projects represent a very strong level of private investment by Irish homeowners, who have availed of the scheme. This private investment is good news for construction companies and contractors, which is helping to sustain existing jobs and create new jobs in the industry.’ The national cost to the exchequer of the Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) to date is €122 million, if the maximum credits that can be claimed by homeowners are availed of. This total cost has yielded an investment of €1.737 billion across 107,386 separate projects. Officials said they could offer no explanation for differences in renovation figures for similarly-sized towns outside Dublin and not within the Dublin commuter belt.