What is the average price of residential property in the Netherlands? In the second quarter of 2023, a single-family home cost approximately 434,000 euros. There were large differences between the Dutch provinces, however. Single-family homes were most expensive in the central province of Utrecht with an average price of 546,000 euros, whereas a similar house in Groningen had an average price tag of 319,000 euros. Overall, the average price a private individual would pay when buying any type of existing residential property (such as single-family homes but also, for example, an apartment) was approximately 429,000 euros in 2022.
Do the Dutch prefer to buy or to rent a house?
The Netherlands had a slightly higher homeownership rate (the share of owner-occupied dwellings of all homes) in 2022 than other countries in Northwestern Europe. About 70 percent of all Dutch houses were owned, whereas this percentage was lower in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. This is an effect of past developments: theprice to rent ratio (the development of the nominal purchase price of a house divided by the annual rent of a similar place with 2015 as a base year) shows that for a long time, it was more affordable to buy a property than to rent one.
Life for rent: mortgages in the Netherlands
Additionally, the Netherlands has one of the highest mortgage debts among private individuals in Europe. In 2021, total debt reached a value of approximately 785 billion euros. This has a political background, as the Dutch tax system allowed homeowners for many years to deduct interest paid on mortgage from pre-tax income for a maximum period of thirty years, essentially allowing for income support for homeowners. In the Netherlands, this system is known as hypotheekrenteaftrek. Note that since 2014, the Dutch government is slowly scaling this down with a planned acceleration from 2020 onwards.
