Dutch mortgages rise 5% in 2026 as starter loans surge

Global political uncertainty, severe weather and workers' strikes have not yet deterred expats living in the Netherlands from buying a house. So far in 2026, residents are taking out more mortgages than in the previous year.

Dutch housing market sees strong first half of 2026

While prices may be rising and houses are few and far between, the Dutch housing market had a positive first six months of 2026. Between January and June, almost 217.000 new mortgages were taken out in the Netherlands, 5 percent more than in the first six months of 2025. In total,  mortgages came to 84,8 billion euros, according to a recent Land Registry (Kadaster) report, roughly 8 percent more than a year ago.

Furthermore, the average loan-to-value (LTV), i.e. the amount of the house price covered by a mortgage loan, was 87,3 percent, just below that seen in 2025. The proportion jumps to 91,5 percent when looking at the average LTV of first-time buyers in the Netherlands.

Interestingly, the Land Registry highlighted that “more and more starter loans are being taken out”, covering about 8,3 percent of all mortgages for anyone buying their first house. This is almost a 160 percent increase compared to the 3,2 percent seen in the first half of 2021. Starter loans aim to help young, first-time buyers enter the Dutch property market at a time when housing prices continue to rise. 

Starter loans fill “the gap between the maximum mortgage (the “first mortgage”) a buyer can take out with a bank and the price of the first home.” It varies by local municipalities as to whether a starter loan is offered, with over 300 in total offering the benefit through the Stimuleringsfonds Volkshuisvesting Nederlandse gemeenten (Stimulation Fund for Public Housing of Dutch Municipalities).

Urban residents take on larger loans in the Netherlands

The average amount buyers are borrowing has steadily been increasing, although amounts borrowed are starting to “ris[e] less rapidly”. So far this year, the average mortgage amount taken out was over 517.000 euros, 5,3 percent more than a year before.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, people living in the largest Dutch cities have to borrow a bigger proportion of the overall house cost compared to rural residents. The average LTV in the majority of urban areas, like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, was 88 percent so far this year, whereas outside of urban areas the number dipped slightly to 86,1 percent.