The slump was largely down to the agency moving late last year to temporarily suspend entering into lease agreements with Home for Life, the only private sector participant in the previous pilot scheme, as it worked through repairs and remedial work on its existing portfolio. There had been a backlog of inspections by local authorities on properties as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some 2,130 mortgage-to-rent deals have been completed since an initial scheme was launched in 2012 on foot of a recommendation in a government-commission report on the mortgage-arrears crisis at the time. A tweaking of the scheme in 2017 gave rise to the pilot programme that had been operating until last month.
iCare, the second-biggest provider, had put through 477 cases. Its purchases have been financed by loans from AIB, a State facility for approved housing bodies and funds from an immigrant investor programme. However, it has maxed out allocations under the latter funding line.