By Johnny Gannon, Founder, Fairdeal Property
Ireland’s housing crisis continues to dominate headlines in 2026. With spiralling rents, severe shortages of affordable homes, and growing pressure on social housing lists nationwide, every political and policy move that supports housing supply matters. Recently, the Government announced a significant expansion of the Buy & Renew Scheme, a programme aimed at bringing vacant and derelict properties back into productive use as much-needed social homes. In this detailed Fairdeal Property blog, we unpack the scheme, explain what the changes mean, and explore the implications for housing delivery, property owners and the wider Irish property market.
🔍 What Is the Buy & Renew Scheme? A Refresher
First introduced in 2016 as part of Ireland’s suite of social housing delivery tools, the Buy & Renew Scheme has been used by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) to acquire long-term vacant or derelict housing stock, renovate it and then return it to use as social homes.
Under the original model, only local authorities and AHBs could participate directly, meaning they were the only bodies that could purchase and refurbish eligible buildings. Over nearly a decade, this approach helped bring almost 1,000 previously disused homes back into social housing supply.
That’s a meaningful contribution, but nowhere near enough given Ireland’s housing demand and the chronic shortage of affordable and secure homes.
🆕 Key 2026 Changes: Contractors Now Welcome
The major update announced in February 2026 fundamentally changes how the Buy & Renew Scheme operates and it could materially accelerate delivery.
🔹 For the First Time Building Contractors Can Participate:
Building contractors can now directly acquire and refurbish vacant and derelict properties with the aim of delivering them as social homes. This is a big shift. Previously, only local authorities and AHBs could do the acquisition and renovation work.
However, there’s one important catch: before any refurbishments begin, contractors must have a pre-agreed sale arrangement with a local authority or AHB to sell the finished homes for social housing use.
This new “contractor-led pathway” means the Government is creating a delivery channel that brings private construction expertise into the social housing pipeline while maintaining public ownership at the point of social allocation.
🧠 Why This Matters, Delivering More Homes Faster
At Fairdeal Property we emphasise solutions that meaningfully impact housing supply. So why does this update matter?
✅ 1. New Capacity and Scale
By involving builders directly, the Government is tapping into Ireland’s private construction sector capacity. That means there’s greater potential to scale delivery especially on tougher sites that local authorities historically had less capacity to tackle.
✅ 2. Focus on Challenging Properties
Eligibility criteria for the scheme have been tightened properties must now be both vacant and derelict to qualify.
This is a deliberate choice: targeting the dilapidated buildings that are unlikely to be taken on through other supports such as the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant. Effectively, this ensures government resources and delivery channels are focused on the most difficult and long-neglected housing stock.
✅ 3. Supports Local Builders and Jobs
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage James Browne has framed the change not only as housing delivery, but as a jobs boost for local builders and tradespeople.
That’s an important theme for Irish communities where construction sector activity can underpin neighbourhood regeneration, apprenticeships and local economic activity.
📊 How Many Homes Could the Scheme Deliver?
To date, the Buy & Renew Scheme has delivered circa 960 homes. That’s spread across the country and represents notable repurposing of idle stock.
With the expanded model, there is genuine potential for this number to increase significantly but it’s not a silver bullet. Several variables will influence delivery:
✅ Availability of eligible vacant derelict properties
✅ Local authority and AHB capacity to enter agreements
✅ Construction sector appetite and timelines
✅ Speed of planning and compliance approvals
Still, with contractors now participating and a tighter focus on truly neglected buildings, the potential pipeline of homes could accelerate more meaningfully than in previous years.
🛠️ What Type of Properties Qualify?
Under the updated rules:
✔ Properties must be long-term vacant AND derelict.
✔ They should be structurally suitable for renovation into social housing.
✔ Contractors must agree contracts upfront with local authorities or AHBs.
This dual-qualification requirement is designed to prevent the Buy & Renew Scheme from competing with other programmes like the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant, which is aimed at individual homeowners.
However — and this is a key nuance not all vacant homes in Ireland will be eligible. Only those that have deteriorated structurally will meet the criteria, so we may still see hundreds of homes sitting outside this scheme. That’s a broader challenge for housing policy that we’ll explore in future Fairdeal Property articles.
🏡 Government Housing Strategy Context
The expansion of the Buy & Renew Scheme fits into the wider Housing Action Plan: Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030 the Government’s long-term framework to increase housing supply across tenures.
Within this context, dereliction and vacancy are treated as untapped resources both for social homes and for regenerating town centres and cities. In fact, as part of the policy suite:
🔸 Local authorities are to expand Derelict Sites Registers
🔸 Enforcement against dereliction will be strengthened
🔸 National aggregated register of derelict sites will be published annually
🔸 A Derelict Property Tax is expected in 2027 to create further incentives for owners to act rather than leave property idle
These measures collectively aim to create a pipeline of property stock ready for renewable use and to ensure dereliction does not continue to plague communities.
⚠️ Limitations & Critiques – What Property Owners Should Know
No policy is without limitations and the Buy & Renew expansion has raised a few important points worth noting:
🔹 Property Eligibility Constraints: Only properties that meet a strict vacancy dereliction test qualify, leaving many traditional vacant homes outside scope.
🔹 Requirement for Contracted Sale: Contractors cannot simply renovate and sell to the highest bidder, they must agree sale to a local authority or AHB beforehand. This reduces risk for councils but may slow action.
🔹 Pipeline Still Depends on Public Capacity: Local authorities and AHBs must still manage approvals, which means delivery speed won’t rest solely on builders.
Nevertheless, many industry voices, including independent politicians and property campaigners, have welcomed the move as a pragmatic step forward, signalling renewed focus on unused housing stock.
📌 What This Means for the Irish Property Market in 2026
For buyers, sellers and landlords scanning the Irish housing landscape, the expanded Buy & Renew Scheme signals a broader policy shift:
✨ Housing supply initiatives are diversifying beyond traditional new builds.
✨ Urban regeneration is gaining renewed focus, especially in derelict town centres.
✨ Social housing delivery is becoming more agile, with private sector inputs.
✨ Property owners with vacant derelict stock may now see renewed interest.
If you own a vacant or derelict property in need of renovation, engaging with your local authority about the Buy & Renew Scheme could present opportunities both for divestment and for community impact.
🧭 Fairdeal Property Insight – Final Thoughts
At Fairdeal Property, we see the expanded Buy & Renew Scheme as a positive step in housing policy, particularly when viewed alongside other reforms like increased construction output targets, reform to planning systems, and incentives for brownfield renewal.
But it’s also clear that serious housing supply challenges remain. Schemes like Buy & Renew are part of a multi-layered puzzle. We still need:
🟢 Faster delivery of new housing supply
🟢 Expanded affordable purchase channels
🟢 Increased support for retrofit and brownfield redevelopment
🟢 Continued focus on vacant stock across all categories
Our commitment is to continue analysing these policies, explaining them clearly, and helping buyers, sellers and property owners make informed decisions rooted in local market intelligence and national housing trends.
Stay tuned to FairdealProperty.ie for ongoing updates, expert commentary, and practical guides to Ireland’s property market in 2026 and beyond.