Over a quarter more mortgage applications in first quarter of 2024

The number of mortgage applications in the Netherlands increased by over 25 percent in the first quarter. According to the Hypotheken Data Netwerk (HDN), the mortgage market has, therefore, grown significantly after a big decline last year. It also seems to indicate a lot of activity in the housing market.

The platform registered 115,108 mortgage applications in January, February, and March, compared to 91,050 a year ago. The figures have risen sharply for both home purchases and transfers or additions. According to HDN, it is also striking that there were significantly more applications for mortgages for newly built homes.

The average mortgage amount was 364,640 euros, an increase of 7 percent compared to a year ago. Home buyers are borrowing more in relation to their income, HDN concluded from the figures. A year ago, they borrowed an average of 3.93 times their own gross annual income. Last quarter, it increased to 4.02 times.

HDN processes the majority of all Dutch mortgage applications. As a result, the figures from the cooperative association of mortgage, credit, and insurance companies provide a broad picture of the mortgage market.

Last year, the number of mortgage applications was almost 30 percent lower than in 2022. The strong decrease was mainly due to a significant drop in the number of refinancings or additions. HDN attributed that to the fact that many people were refinancing their mortgages early in 2022 to avoid further interest rate increases.

Later this week, the real estate agency NVM will also report its quarterly figures. After a period of falling prices due to rising mortgage interest rates, home prices started to rise again last year. The housing shortage in the Netherlands is becoming acute. Real estate agents have noticed that there are far fewer homes for sale lately. That was clearly noticeable on Saturday at the NVM Open House Day. Far fewer houses participated, and the event attracted far fewer visitors.