Rising home prices push average equity on Dutch homes to €220,000

The average equity of a home in the Netherlands has increased further due to the continued rise in home prices. The average value of a home is now almost 500,000 euros, and the average equity per home is currently 220,000 euros, calculated market researcher Calcasa. That is a significant increase compared to two years ago when the equity - the difference between your home’s value and what you still owe on your mortgage - was still 175,000 euros.

According to Calasa, the higher equity ensures that a large part of the housing market is even more resistant to potential price decreases in the future. The Netherlands currently has more than 8 million homes with a total home value of almost 4 trillion (4,000 billion) euros. To calculate the equity, Calcasa looked at existing homes that have changed owners since 1 January 1993. That is a total of over 3 million homes with a total value of more than 1.5 trillion euros. Compared to the last historical purchase prices, this amounts to an average of 220,000 euros in equity per home.

According to the researchers, the actual equity is probably even higher since the calculation assumes a mortgage of 100 percent of the purchase price without taking repayments into account. In addition, homes that were sold before 1993 were not included in the study. This makes the estimate of the equity conservative.

Homes sold before 2000 have the most equity on average due to the long period in which their value could increase. Homes that were sold around 2008 have less equity due to the price drops during the credit crisis.

Schiermonnikoog, Vlieland, and Ameland are among the municipalities with the highest relative equity. Not many transactions have taken place on the islands since 1993, but the average equity as a percentage of the historical purchase price is high at an average of 90 percent. Municipalities like Nieuwegein, Haarlem, and Utrecht achieve similar percentages.

In absolute amounts, Bloemendaal tops the list with an average equity of 495,000 euros, followed by Laren, Blaricum, Heemstede, and Wassenaar. In Haarlem, the equity is both relatively (85 percent) and absolutely (306,000 euros) high. The average equity in Amsterdam is 281,000 euros.