Single first-time buyers increasingly able to buy a home, but often parents' help

Single first-time buyers are increasingly gaining a foothold in the home-buying market. In the third quarter, 56 percent of mortgage applications for buying a home were from first-time buyers, De Hypotheker reported. And four in ten of this group were buying a home by themselves, though often with financial support from their parents.

The fact that single first-time buyers are more able to buy a home is due to slightly more favorable circumstances in the housing market. Wages have increased, mortgage interest rates have decreased slightly, and there has been an influx of small, cheaper homes in the market due to landlords selling off their rentals after the implementation of rent regulation.

And these young home buyers often receive financial support from their parents. “I think that parents are increasingly realizing that their children need extra help buying a house,” Boudewijn de Jong of De Hypotheker told NOS.

Oscar Noorlag of another mortgage advice chain, Van Bruggen, recognizes the trend. “But it’s still true that it remains impossible for someone in their twenties or thirties who doesn’t have wealthy parents or a high income to buy a house,” he told the broadcaster.

The total number of mortgage applications increased by 21 percent in the third quarter compared to a year earlier, De Hypotheker reported. Young homebuyers under 35 accounted for a significant portion of this increase (+29 percent). The share of mortgage applications for buying a home increased by 19 percent. The average mortgage amount for first-time buyers increased by 4 percent in the past three months to €351,644.

People over the age of 55 were also very active on the housing market in the past quarter, with mortgage applications from this group increasing by 35 percent. A relatively large part of this group applied for mortgages for home improvements. “A growing number of people aged 55 and over are choosing to make their homes more sustainable or renovate them to make them suitable for lifelong living.”

According to De Hypotheker, many older people would prefer to move to suitable senior housing, but because they can’t find such housing, they’re opting for renovations instead.