Figures published by real estate company De Hypotheker this week reveal precisely how inaccessible the Dutch housing market is to the majority of single people earning average salaries. According to their research, someone earning up to 38.000 euros a year can afford to buy just 1 percent of homes in the Netherlands.
Dutch housing market increasingly inaccessible to average earners
Without the support of a partner or spouse, De Hypotheker assumed that someone earning less than 38.000 euros would receive a mortgage of just 171.000 euros at a mortgage interest rate of 3,6 percent. These figures would mean that, while last year this demographic would be able to afford to buy around 3,3 percent of properties across the country, this number has now dropped to just 1 percent.
"The supply of affordable housing for this group has thus fallen by 70 percent in one year," De Hypotheker writes. "Although two-income couples with an average income have more options, they also run up against the limits of the housing supply: only 20 percent of the homes for sale are available to them."
Home buying opportunities Amsterdam and The Hague are non-existent
The figure differs greatly depending on the part of the country. Those looking to buy a house in Rotterdam have fewer properties to choose from - just 0,5 percent, although Rotterdam still offers the most options out of all the major Dutch cities - and the outlook is even bleaker in Eindhoven and Utrecht (0,2 percent). In The Hague and Amsterdam, the opportunities are non-existent: not a single home on the market can be purchased with such a small mortgage.
On the other hand, some provinces offer slightly more options; 6 percent of the properties in Limburg, 5 percent in Groningen, and 4 percent Zeeland would be accessible to a person earning an average salary.
Thumb: Dutchmen Photography via Shutterstock.