National mortgage guarantee rises by 14 percent to €405,000

The National Mortgage Guarantee (NHG) limit will be 405,000 euros next year, a 14 percent increase compared to this year’s 355,000 euros. The increase will give more home buyers access to this safety net against forced sales or residual debts, the NHG organization said on Wednesday.

“The increase is really necessary,” said Carla Muters, chairman of the NHG Executive Board. “Due to the sharp rise in house prices, people are taking out increasingly higher mortgages to buy a house. We want to be there when that group is faced with incapacity for work, excessive housing costs, divorce, or other problems.”

The Cabinet plans to create 900,000 homes by 2030, two-thirds of which are to be affordable housing. Currently, the government is using the NHG limit to determine what is an affordable home. But due to the sharp increase in that limit, homes at the NHG price will be affordable to fewer people.

The Cabinet will therefore disconnect what it considers affordable housing from the NHG limit, Minister Hugo de Jonge for Housing and Spatial Planning said. He also called the increase essential given the current scarcity in the housing market and high house prices. “Buyers run fewer financial risks with the NHG and often pay a lower mortgage interest rate,” he said. “The sharp increase in the NGH limit will give more home buyers financial security.”

The NHG with energy-saving facilities limit will be 429,300 euros next year. The suretyship commission will remain at 0.6 percent.