If you’re single and hoping to buy a house in the Netherlands, brace yourself: your chances are about the same as finding a table at a popular café without a reservation.
According to De Hypotheker, singles can currently afford just 2.1% of the homes on the market. Last year it was 1.7%, so technically things have improved… but only by a whisker.
An uneven playing field
Meanwhile, dual earners are swiping right on success. Their share of affordable homes has jumped from 29.1% four years ago to almost 36% today.
Speaking with NU.nl, Mark de Rijke, commercial director of De Hypotheker, a mortgage broker in the Netherlands, says that “The results mainly show that something needs to be done in the Dutch housing market”.
For singles earning €46,500 a year, the borrowing limit is €215,000, which is not nearly enough for most Dutch listings.
Meanwhile, with combined incomes stretching mortgage potential to €400,000, couples are leaving singles in the housing dust.
So, what’s left for singles? Hope, savings, and maybe some parental generosity.
Zeeland says yes, Utrecht says no
Your odds of finding something decent climb to between 6 and 7% in places like Limburg, Zeeland and Groningen. But if your heart is set on Utrecht, North Holland or Flevoland… Well, prepare for heartbreak.
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“Instead of living smaller, it might be better to enlarge your search area,” advises de Rijke.
Maybe not the piece of advice singles were hoping for, but perhaps the only realistic one.
There’s been a brief glimmer of hope thanks to landlords selling off properties after rental rules tightened, releasing more affordable homes onto the market. But experts warn this is a temporary effect.
If you’re single and house-hunting, maybe treat it like dating: be flexible, expand your horizons and don’t get too attached too soon.
After all, the perfect match might just be hiding in Zeeland.
Struggling with these problems yourself? Or do you work in finance, have a trust fund, and stand at 6’5″ with blue eyes? Tell us in the comments.
