Ireland eases mortgage cap plan to help first-time buyers

Dublin

IRELAND'S central bank scaled back plans to limit mortgages amid political pressure to aid first-time house buyers as the nation recovers from a real-estate collapse.

First-time buyers will be allowed to borrow as much as 90 per cent of a property valued at up to 220,000 euros (S$337,492), it said in a statement late on Tuesday in Dublin. In October, the bank proposed an 80 per cent limit for most new mortgage loans.