More Dutch homeowners making cutbacks to afford their mortgage

Netherlands residents are dutifully paying their mortgages, but more and more people are bending over backward to do so, according to the Housing Costs Monitor of the National Mortgage Guarantee (NHG). One in five homeowners has struggled to make their mortgage payments in the past year. Many made budget cuts elsewhere to afford their mortgage, and some have also started working more.

Between 2012 and 2021, an average of 3 percent of Dutch households were in arrears on their mortgage—below the European Union average of 3.6 percent and the eurozone average of 4.1 percent. If all arrears were divided by the number of homeowners with a National Mortgage guarantee, the average arrears fell from 27 euros in 2015 to 2 euros. But that doesn’t tell the whole story, the NHG said.

The NHG surveyed 2,400 households - approximately 200 per province. 37 percent said that their income was just enough or not enough to pay all costs and fixed charges. About half of this group were very worried about their finances.

One in five households said that they struggled to pay their mortgage in the past 12 months. 71 percent of them have adjusted their spending patterns and have made cuts to subscriptions, holidays, energy use, and groceries in order to pay their mortgage. 16.5 percent said that they’ve put in more hours at work.

Residents of Zuid-Holland, Groningen, and Limburg were most likely to have concerns about being able to pay their mortgage last year. While the group with these financial worries was below the national average in Utrecht and Drenthe.

“There are many homeowners with financial concerns,” NHG director Roald van der Linde said. “Only looking at mortgage arrears figures gives a distorted picture. Let’s not wait until backlogs arise, but see together whether we can help these homeowners sooner.”