The Central Bank has begun a public consultation on the next step of its ongoing review of mortgage rules.
The measures were first introduced in February 2015 and aim to enhance the resilience of both borrowers and the banking sector.
The Central Bank said the framework review wants to ensure that the measures remain fit for purpose into the future.
The consultation launched today marks the second phase in the public engagement as part of the review.
During the summer, the Central Bank carried out an online survey alongside a series of listening events, where they asked the public and other stakeholders to share their views.
As part of this next step, the consultation invites interested stakeholders to provide feedback on a range of specific questions.
Among the questions, the Central Bank is seeking views on the current Loan to Income (LTI) rule, which sees most home buyers limited to borrowing 3.5 times their gross annual income.
"What are your views on the Central Bank's proposal that LTI remains the most appropriate income based instrument?," the Central Bank's consultation document asks.
Under the current Central Bank rules, First Time Buyers (FTBs) need a deposit of at least 10% of the value of the property they are purchasing, while second time and subsequent buyers need 20%.
As part of the review, the bank will ask if FTBs should be treated differently.
"Would you agree that differential treatment across borrower groups remains suitable, given their different characteristics and the different roles they play in the housing cycle?," the bank asks.
Currently the mortgage measures are reviewed every year by the Central Bank.
However, the bank will ask if an annual review is the best approach going forward.
"Taking into account the balance between the need to regularly review the measures while not inadvertently disrupting the market with overly-frequent expectations of changes to the measures, should the annual reviews of the measures be replaced by regular assessment of the functioning of the measures in the context of the mortgage market, combined with periodic overarching framework reviews, for example, every 3-5 years?," it will ask as part of the consultation.
The consultation will close on 16 March 2022 and can be viewed at www.centralbank.ie/mmfr .
The Central bank said the feedback it receives will inform the final conclusions on the design of the framework, along with further research and analysis by the Central Bank.
The review is due to finish in the second half of next year.
"The mortgage measures have been - and will continue to be - an integral and permanent feature of the Central Bank's macroprudential policy framework," said Vasileios Madouros, Director of Financial Stability at the Central Bank.
"Since their introduction, they have played a key role in building resilience of both borrowers and lenders and have guarded against the emergence of an unsustainable, credit-fuelled housing boom," he added.
Mr Madouros said the consultation they held over the summer provided the Central Bank will a "deep insight" into the public views on many aspects of the mortgage measures.
"Together with our own analysis and research, the information gathered through the listening and engagement events, has formed the basis for this consultation paper, which outlines the Central Bank’s current thinking on the mortgage measures framework," he said.
"From the outset, we have been clear that engagement with stakeholders will be a core element of our review.
"The level of engagement has been extremely beneficial so far and, as we move to the next step in the review, I encourage stakeholders to provide feedback on the consultation," he added.
