Netherlands · report
Buy or rent in the Netherlands
Renting the average home costs less each month than owning it. Owning counts interest, running costs and the return the deposit could earn, at the average sale price; rent is what private tenants pay on average, after housing benefit. Repaying the loan is saving, so it is left out.
- Rent per month
- €968
- Owning per month
- €2,020
Try your own numbers
Starting from the average sale price of €479,527 and the average rent private tenants paid in 2024, €968 a month after housing benefit, in Netherlands, and a mortgage rate of 3.9%.
Renting costs less each month than owning.
- Rent a month
- €968
- Owning a month, not recovered
- €2,006
- Interest
- €1,403
- Running costs
- €400
- Return given up
- €204
- Cash out a month, if buying
- €2,435
Gross rental yield in Netherlands
A year's rent as a share of the average sale price, for each year CBS published it. Higher means rent is dear compared with buying.
Show the numbers
| Period | Netherlands |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 2.6% |
| 2023 | 2.6% |
| 2022 | 2.4% |
| 2021 | 2.6% |
| 2020 | 2.8% |
| 2019 | 2.9% |
| 2018 | 3.0% |
| 2017 | 3.2% |
The comparison counts only the costs of owning you never get back: interest, running costs and what the deposit and purchase costs could earn elsewhere. Loan repayments build equity, so they are left out. So is any rise in the home's value, because nobody knows it in advance. Rents here are what households renting from private landlords paid on average, after housing benefit, for new and long-standing tenancies alike (CBS); a new tenant usually pays more, so the yield reads low. Social housing, rented from housing associations, is left out, and a municipality with too few private tenants takes the Netherlands' figure.
Other reports for the Netherlands
Sale prices have an 80% chance of landing between €483,170 and €564,960 by September 2027.
- Expected, September 2027
- €524,065
- Chance of a rise
- 73%
At the average sale price, a home costs €504,658. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is €2,153 a month. The Netherlands sets no single cap on the payment: each year the law fixes how much of their income a household may spend on the mortgage, by income and interest rate.
- Payment, two incomes
- 25%
- Payment, one income
- 51%
40.4% more homes were licensed for construction in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.
- Licensed, 12 months
- 113,484
- Per 1,000 residents
- 6.3
Sale prices have fallen by 3% or more 10 times since 1995. The deepest began in August 2008.
- Deepest fall
- −21.3%
- Recovery from the low
- 48 months
In 2025 the population grew by 86,630 while 69,189 homes were finished: 1.3 new residents for every new home.
- New residents per new home, 2025
- 1.3
- Population change, 2025
- +86,630
4.5% of the 8,344,955 homes registered on 1 January 2026 had nobody living in them.
- Empty, 2026
- 4.5%
- Empty homes
- 374,445
In 2024, 22% of the homes added came from existing buildings rather than new ones.
- Homes from existing buildings, 2024
- 22%
Public bodies signed €286.6M of housing works here in 2025, and €2.9B since 2017.
- Signed in 2025
- €286.6M
- Per resident, 2025
- €16