Young private sector tenants spend the largest portion of their income on housing

Tenants spend a larger portion of their income on housing than homeowners, especially in the private sector, and especially for young people taking their first step onto the housing market. Private sector tenants who entered the housing market less than a year ago spent 33.5 percent of their income on housing, while homeowners who have been active in the housing market for 20 years or more spent an average of 15.2 percent, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported on Tuesday based on 2024 figures.

In general, people spend less of their income on housing the longer they have been active in the housing market. This is especially true for homeowners. “Unlike tenants, for whom rents often rise year after year, homeowners often face stable or declining mortgage costs combined with rising incomes,” CBS explained. “As a result, the housing cost ratio falls more rapidly.”

On average, homeowners spend the smallest share of their income on housing, ranging between 23.4 percent for new homeowners with a tenure of less than a year and 15.2 percent for those who have owned a home for 20 years or more.

For private sector tenants, people just starting in the housing market spent an average of 33.5 percent of their income on housing in 2024. This dropped to 28.1 percent for tenants who have been active in the housing market for 20 years or longer.

Social housing tenants with regulated rents spend a slightly lower proportion of their incomes on housing, but still significantly more than homeowners. A tenant who got their first social rental less than a year ago spent 26.5 percent of their income on housing in 2024. Social housing tenants active in the market for two decades spent 23.8 percent of their income on housing.