Average Joe can only afford one of 5 homes in Amsterdam
Single people with an average income looking to buy a home have almost no chance at all on the Dutch housing market. About 3 percent of all homes for sale fall in this group's price range, De Hypotheker reported. In Amsterdam, the Average Joe can afford one of five homes.
Due to the lower mortgage interest rates, home buyers are able to borrow more this year. The average annual income for a single person is 36,500 euros. On that amount you can get a mortgage up to 188,000, without your own money. That's 19,000 more than last year. But home prices increased enough to cancel that out. A quick search on Funda shows that only five apartments in Amsterdam fall in that price range.
In the Randstad, it is practically impossible for a single person with an average income to find a home. In Amsterdam, they have, rounded down, a 0 percent chance. In the provinces of Utrecht, Noord-Holland, Flevoland, and Noord-Brabant, only about 1 percent of owner-occupied homes for sale are affordable to this group. The Average Joe has the best chance of finding a home in Groningen or Friesland, where 17 and 11 percent of homes respectively fall into their price range.
Two-income households with an average income of 63 thousand euros are facing slightly better prospects on the housing market. Thanks to second incomes now counting 90 percent instead of 80 percent in mortgage applications, these households can now get a maximum mortgage of 344 thousand euros. That means they can afford 36 percent of homes on the Dutch market, instead of 32 percent last year.
As with the single earners, the supply is smallest in Randstad and largest in Groningen and Friesland. In Utrecht and Noord-Holland, about a quarter of homes fall in the average two-income price range. In Groningen, they can afford 66 percent of homes.
De Hypytheker added that the actual supply is likely much lower, as many homes are sold above the asking price. "Overbidding is the rule rather than the exception," Menno Luiten of De Hypotheker said. "As a result, home buyers have to bring in extra money of their own in addition to the buyer's costs."
