How Much Can You Borrow? Dutch Mortgage Requirements Explained

Two separate ceilings decide your maximum mortgage, and the lower one wins. What income counts, what a temporary contract changes, how student debt is treated since 2024, and why a Dutch mortgage needs no down payment but still needs cash.

Two questions sit behind almost every search about Dutch mortgages: how much will a lender give me, and how much of my own money do I need? They have different answers, and confusing them is the most expensive mistake a first-time buyer can make here.

Two ceilings, and the lower one wins

Your maximum mortgage is the smaller of two independently calculated limits.

The income ceiling. Dutch lending standards cap your mortgage at what your gross annual income can responsibly service. The percentages are set each year by the government on the advice of the Nibud, the national budget institute, and every lender applies the same table — which is why shopping around barely moves your maximum. A rough rule of thumb is four to five times gross annual income, but the real figure moves with interest rates and with your other obligations.

The property ceiling. Since 2018 you may borrow at most 100% of the property's appraised value — the loan-to-value limit. Not 100% of the price you agreed: 100% of the value in the appraisal report. If you bid above the appraised value, the difference is yours to fund. See House Valuation in the Netherlands.

Whichever number is lower is your mortgage. A high salary does not let you borrow more than the house is worth, and a cheap house does not let you borrow more than your income supports.

One change worth knowing for 2026: single buyers can borrow an additional €17,000 on top of the standard calculation once their income reaches around €28,000. The financing-load percentages themselves were nudged slightly downwards for 2026, though expected wage growth more than offsets that for most people.

The down-payment myth

This is the question people actually type into Google, and the answer is genuinely surprising if you have bought property elsewhere.

You do not need a down payment on the house itself. A 100% loan-to-value mortgage is normal in the Netherlands and always has been in recent memory. There is no 10% or 20% deposit convention.

But you do need cash for the buying costs, and these cannot be added to the mortgage. Budget roughly 4–6% of the purchase price, covering:

On a €400,000 purchase that is somewhere between €16,000 and €24,000 in your own money — before you consider bidding above the appraised value, which is still common and which also has to come out of savings.

The Closing Costs article itemises each line, and the Costs Checklist turns it into a figure for your specific purchase.

What counts as income

The headline number matters less than how your employment is classified.

A permanent contract (vast contract) is the straightforward case. Your gross annual salary, holiday allowance and any structural thirteenth month generally all count.

A temporary contract is where most internationals get stuck, and it is the reason so many people search for how fase B affects a mortgage. Agency and fixed-term work in the Netherlands runs through phases — commonly described as fase A, B and C — with increasing job security. Lenders do not refuse temporary contracts outright; they ask your employer for a statement of intent, an intentieverklaring, confirming an intention to continue the employment on a permanent basis if performance stays the same. With that statement, a temporary contract is usually assessed as if it were permanent. Without it, expect a much lower maximum or a refusal.

For long-term flexible workers there is also the perspectiefverklaring, a statement based on your work history and prospects rather than one employer's intention. Not every lender accepts it, so check before you fall in love with a house.

Two incomes. Both partners' incomes count, though not equally — the standards weight the second income at less than the first. You do not need to be married; you do need to both be on the mortgage.

Self-employment is assessed differently and generally needs several years of figures. See Getting a Mortgage as a ZZP'er.

The 30% ruling affects which part of your income counts, and lenders vary in how they treat it. See The 30% Ruling and Mortgages.

What reduces what you can borrow

Debts and fixed obligations come off the top before your capacity is calculated.

Student debt. The rules changed in 2024 and a lot of advice online is still out of date. Lenders no longer apply a flat percentage to your original debt: they look at the actual monthly amount you repay to DUO, and convert it using a weighting factor set annually. In practice this is usually kinder than the old method, and it means paying down a student loan before applying can help — but not as dramatically as people expect.

Do not be tempted to leave it out. Student debt is not registered at the BKR, but you are asked about it directly, and hiding it is mortgage fraud.

BKR-registered credit. The national credit register records loans, credit cards, and payment arrears. A modest credit limit you never use still counts against you, because it is the limit that is registered, not the balance. Closing unused facilities before applying is one of the few genuinely quick wins.

Other fixed obligations. A private lease car, alimony, and other personal loans all reduce capacity, sometimes sharply.

NHG: what it requires and what it buys

The Nationale Hypotheek Garantie is a guarantee scheme, not a lender. In 2026 it applies to purchases up to €470,000, rising to €498,200 when you are financing energy-saving measures alongside the purchase.

It costs a one-off fee of 0.4% of the loan, paid at the start. In return, lenders almost always offer a lower interest rate on NHG loans — which usually recovers the fee many times over — and the scheme can cover a residual debt if you are forced to sell at a loss after specific life events. What is NHG? covers the conditions in full.

What you will be asked for

Have these ready before you speak to an advisor — assembling them is often what delays an application rather than the assessment itself:

Work out your own number

You can put a rough figure on this in under a minute: the maximum-mortgage estimator applies the 2026 lending norms to your income, a partner's income, a study debt and the home's energy label to show what you could borrow — and, since a Dutch mortgage is capped at the property's value, roughly the home price that puts within reach.

Once you have a figure in mind, the mortgage calculator shows what it means month to month — gross and net, after hypotheekrenteaftrek, for both an annuity and a linear mortgage — and itemises the cash you will need on completion day.

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