Kilkenny householders spent €30.5m renovating homes under scheme
KILKENNY householders have spent more than €30.5 million doing up their homes under the Home Renovation Incentive (HRI), new figures reveal.
The incentive has facilitated a total of 2,049 home improvement projects throughout the city and county since it was launched in 2013.
The average spend on these projects was €14,895, providing a huge boost to the local economy and employment in the construction sector, according to the Construction Industry Federation (CIF).
The Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) provides homeowners with an income tax credit at 13.5% of qualifying expenditure on home improvement works carried out on a main home or rental property.
Nationally, the HRI incentive has facilitated 1147,000 home improvement projects over the last five years, with an average spend of €16,766 per project.
Broken down by value, the largest amount of work was carried out completing home extensions (34%), followed by general repair and renovations (25%) and then window replacement (11%) and kitchen replacement (10%).
CIF Communications Director Shane Dempsey said: “A total of 2,049 projects in Kilkenny was a very significant level of private investment over the five years of the scheme from homeowners in Kilkenny. CIF has worked with stakeholders including the SEAI to ensure contractors were in place to support the work required by homeowners.”
He added: “At a time of modest growth in the construction industry, the scheme encouraged investment by homeowners in Kilkenny, which was good news for construction companies and contractors in the county.”
