A green mortgage is a home loan with a lower interest rate for an energy-efficient property. If the home has a Building Energy Rating (BER) of B or better (B3 or better on a certificate issued before May 2026), you qualify for the green rate rather than the standard one.
What began as a marketing idea has become a normal part of Irish mortgage pricing. Most of the main lenders now offer a green or BER-linked rate on at least some of their fixed-rate products, and for a buyer of a new home it is often the cheapest rate available.
The discount is typically a fraction of a percentage point. On a €300,000 mortgage over 30 years, 0.3 of a point is roughly €51 a month, or about €2,400 over a four-year fixed term.
The rate is attractive. Getting a home that qualifies is the harder part.
Retrofitting costs money up front. Bringing an older home from a D or E rating to a B usually means insulation, new windows, a heat pump and ventilation. SEAI grants cover a meaningful share of the cost, but the balance is still significant, and the grant is paid after the work is done.
Products differ more than they look. Each lender sets its own qualifying grade, its own discount and the fixed terms it applies to. Some products are for A-rated homes only, and one or two scale the discount by rating. The headline "green rate" is not comparable across lenders without looking at the detail.
New builds carry a premium. A new home will be A-rated as standard, so it qualifies automatically, but new builds are scarce and priced accordingly. For first-time buyers the Help to Buy Scheme and the First Home Scheme are what make a new build reachable; the green rate is a bonus on top.
For buyers retrofitting an existing home, once a new BER certificate shows the improved grade you qualify for the green rate at your next rate switch or remortgage, so the saving follows the work.
A broker who sees all of these products side by side can tell you quickly which one is best for your property and your BER. See our guide to finding mortgage brokers in Ireland.
Green rates have changed how Irish lenders price risk. A B-rated home has lower running costs, so the household has more room to meet repayments, and the lender prices that in. The result is that energy efficiency now has a visible, monthly cash value for the borrower, not just a line on the sales brochure.
That has fed through to the market. Buyers ask for the BER earlier, sellers invest in upgrades before listing, and higher-rated homes command a premium over comparable lower-rated ones. With energy costs volatile and the State's retrofit targets running to 2030, there is no sign of that reversing.
Alongside the green rate, lenders still compete on cashback and on their standard fixed rates, so the green product is not always the best overall deal. The right comparison is the total cost over the fixed term, not the discount on its own.
A mortgage with a discounted interest rate for an energy-efficient home, usually one with a BER of B or better.
You go through the normal mortgage application, and the property needs a valid BER certificate at the lender's qualifying grade: B or better on the new scale, or B3 or better on an older certificate. New builds are A-rated as standard. An older home qualifies once it has been retrofitted and re-assessed.
Yes. From 24 May 2026 SEAI issues certificates on a simplified scale of A0, A, B, C, D, E, F and G, with no sub-grades such as B1, B2 or B3. Older certificates stay valid for ten years from their issue date, so lenders accept both.
Yes. SEAI's home energy grants cover insulation, heat pumps, solar panels and more, individually or as a full upgrade through the One Stop Shop scheme. See the current grants.
Most of the main lenders do, but the discount and the qualifying BER grade differ, which is where a broker comparison earns its keep.
No. Any home with a qualifying BER certificate is eligible. The certificate, not the age of the house, is what the lender looks at.
A green mortgage is a straightforward saving if your home qualifies, and a reason to look seriously at a retrofit if it does not. The key is to compare the whole product, not the label.
Two resources worth bookmarking:
SEAI: Building Energy Rating – how a BER is calculated and how to find an assessor.
SEAI: Home energy upgrade grants – what funding is available for each measure.
If you are buying, switching or planning an upgrade and want to know which green rate you qualify for, we can compare them for you in one call.
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