How much do you spend on your Dutch rent or mortgage each month? Wait, wait, I know; a poep ton. 😭
How do I know? Because a recent study by the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) shows that people in the Netherlands have some of the highest housing costs compared to their income in all of Europe.
How bad is it?
Good question. The answer is that Dutch residents spend an average of 23% of their income on rent or mortgages.
That’s three per cent more than the EU average of 20%. 📈
But of course, that’s just an average. And many people (yours truly included) spend a lot more of their income on housing — some even more than half. 👇
How bad is it, really? Well, let’s put it this way: with these numbers, residents of the Netherlands spend the 6th highest amount of their income on rent or mortgages.
Only in Greece, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg and Bulgaria do people spend a greater part of their income on housing costs.
And… rents are going up
The CBS also analysed rental prices more generally and noted that rental prices in the Netherlands have skyrocketed by a whopping 18.5% in the past nine years.
Sounds bad? It is! But it could be much worse.
As the CBS’s research suggests, a number of Eastern European countries have seen rents go up by over 50% in the past decade, including in Slovenia, Hungary, and Poland. Lithuania is taking the crown with an increase of 68%.
The EU average for rent increases since 2015 sits at 13.3%.
How much of your income do you spend on housing costs? Share your thoughts in the comments.
That’s not bad compared to Ireland where rents are ridiculouslying high, particularly in the major urban areas
Well let’s be honest the income in the Netherlands is more high than in many other countries and ……with the tax many people get every year some money back, it’s possible to give expenses up to them taxes ( in other countries of course not, if you tel the people are looking at you in disbelieve)