Average income earners fall over €100,000 short to buy a home: CPB

People in the Netherlands with an average income who want to buy a home are over €100,000 short of securing a mortgage, according to the first housing market accessibility monitor by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB). Without dual incomes or wealthy parents, average income earners cannot buy a home in the Netherlands, the CPB concluded.

The CPB examined the affordability of owner-occupied homes between 2015 and 2024. The full figures for 2025 were not yet available, so last year is not included in the monitor.

Until 2018, households with a single average income could still secure a mortgage using only their own salary. After that, home prices rose much faster than incomes, so buyers had to bring their own savings to the table.

In 2024, the average price of an owner-occupied home was €451,000. In that year, average income earners had to bring over €100,000 of their own money to the table to secure a mortgage and buy an average home. These buyers essentially need a partner, a second buyer, or wealthy parents to help them buy a home.

“In 2015, households with a median income could still buy 61 percent of the housing stock in the Netherlands. By 2024, that figure was only 21 percent,” Emile Cammeraat of the CPB told NOS. “Single-person households with an average income can only buy 2 percent of the available homes.

Access to the housing market has deteriorated in all regions, but the problems are the greatest in the large cities. “There, the accessibility of an owner-occupied home has dropped to 18 percent. In Amsterdam and Utrecht, it’s even worse,” said Cammeraat.

First-time buyers are particularly affected. They are generally younger and have lower incomes. They also lack the equity gained from selling a previously owned home.

The CPB did not have many suggestions for helping average-income households in the short term. The most obvious solution is to increase the supply by building more homes. But the government’s goal of 100,000 new homes per year has proven impossible for years due to nitrogen regulations and a shortage of construction workers.

CPB suggested making it easier to subdivide existing homes and reducing tax benefits for homeowners. “The mortgage interest deduction and the low notional rental value allow buyers to offer more. And that further drives up prices,” Cammeraat said. It’s unlikely that the government will change the mortgage interest deduction, as the coalition agreement states that it will not happen.

Another option is to relax the lending standard somewhat. In the past, home buyers could borrow 106 percent of the value of their home for a mortgage. But when home prices plummeted during the 2008 credit crisis, many homeowners were forced to sell their homes and ended up with residual debt. Since 2018, buyers have been restricted to borrowing no more than the appraised value of their property.