Owning a home increasingly out of reach for average NL resident

Single earners with a median income have less and less chance of buying a home in the Netherlands. Single income households with a median income of 32,700 this year can afford a home that costs 150 thousand euros maximum, according to De Hypotheker. Only 4.3 percent of homes currently for sale in the Netherlands have an asking price of 150 thousand euros or less, compared to 7.5 percent last year, NOS reports.

Mortgage adviser De Hypotheker compared the prices of homes listed on housing website Funda in the third week of November this year to listings in the first week of November last year.

Home buying opportunities for people with an average income have fallen in all Dutch provinces over the past year. The situation is most hopeless for single-income home seekers in Utrecht and Noord-Brabant, where they can afford only 1.1 percent and 1.6 percent of homes on offer respectively. They have the best chance in Groningen and Zeeland, 18.7 percent and 10.6 percent respectively.

Double-income households with a median annual income of 62,500 euros have a better chance of finding a home, but their chances are also decreasing. These households can afford a home up to 300 thousand euros. Currently 38 percent of homes for sale on Funda fall into the 300 thousand euros or less price range, compared to 46 percent last year.

The average dual income household has the best chance of finding an affordable home in Groningen and Friesland, where respectively 66 percent and 61 percent of available homes fall in their price range. They have the worst chance in Utrecht and Noord-Holland, where they can afford 21 percent and 25 percent of homes respectively.

This means that prospective homeowners increasingly have to find additional sources of money to fund their homes. Some housing associations offer substantial discounts on housing under certain conditions. These discounts can amount to as much as 30 percent of the market value, which homeowners have to repay when they move, according to NOS. Parents can also help out by lending money to their child or standing guarantee for their mortgage, so that the child can lend more.

But that is not a solution for everyone, De Hypotheker director Menno Luiten said to NOS. "If your parents can do that, it is of course great, but that is not a solution for the entire group. There is really only one real solution for that and that is to build more affordable housing."