Fine Gael has called for the abolition of stamp duty on second-hand houses for first-time buyers.
Speaking at the Fine Gael Ardfheis in Dublin this afternoon Mr Bernard Allen, party spokesman on the Environment and Local Government said "young homebuyers are being crippled by the high tax on housing".
Stamp duty is applied as a percentage of the price of a house. At the end of the first quarter Exchequer tax revenues were almost €300 million ahead of target, almost exclusively as a result of higher property tax returns.
Revenues from capital gains tax and stamp duty combined are €275 million ahead of predictions.
The housing market is continuing to defy predictions with house prices rising at more than 13 per cent per annum, well over six times the rate of inflation.
Despite house prices being more expensive in Ireland than in anywhere else in the EU except London, the demand for new mortgages is also growing strongly.
Mr Allen said the Fine Gael plan would help first-time buyers save a deposit, purchase their home and to pay for their mortgage.
To gather the deposit Fine Gael has proposed a savings scheme similar to the SSIA, where every three euro saved would be matched by one euro from the State.
The party has also proposed frontloading all mortgage interest relief entitlements to the first seven years of the morgage repayments.
Revenue from the housing sector made this plan affordable said Mr Allen.